The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance for fully vaccinated individuals, now advising that people can resume most activities--indoor or outdoor--without wearing a mask or physically distancing after they complete their COVID vaccine regimen.
"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky stated during a Thursday press briefing announcing the updated guidance. "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things you had stopped doing because of the pandemic."
"We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to come sense of normalcy," Walensky continued. "Based on the continuing downward trajectory of cases, the scientific data on the performance of our vaccine and our understanding of how the virus spreads, the moment has come for those who are fully vaccinated."
The CDC considers an individual fully vaccinated either two weeks after receiving their second dose of mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)-BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) or Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) or one dose of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) vaccine.
To support the CDC's new guidance, Walensky cited a growing body of real-world evidence, or outside of a clinical trial setting, that demonstrated the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccine authorized for emergency use in the United States, noting how rare it was for a fully vaccinated individual to develop symptomatic COVID infection and how the vaccine offer protection against recent COVID variants.
Walensky added that the easing of mask restrictions will not apply to areas of public transportation like airports or trains, health care facilities, or wherever they are still required by state or local territories. Businesses may also require masks even amongst the vaccinated, especially as some of the population remains unvaccinated.
On Friday, the CDC released a study that demonstrated that mRNA vaccines--the ones developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna--reduced the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 infection by 94% among a pool of 500,000 fully vaccinated health care workers in the U.S.
"This report provided the most compelling information to date that COVID-19 vaccines were performing as expected in the real world," Walensky said in a statement accompanying the study. "This study, added to the many studies that preceded it, was pivotal to CDC changing its recommendations for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19."