The recommendations also state that vaccinated people can get together in the same way – in one household – with people at low risk of serious illness, as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidance Monday.
The guidance is designed to meet growing demand as more adults are getting vaccinated and wondering if it gives them more freedom to visit relatives, travel, or do other things as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic last years flooded the world. .
“With more and more people getting vaccinated every day, we’re starting to turn a corner,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
VIDEO: Watch the full CDC announcement
At a press conference on Monday, she called the guidance a “first step” to restore normalcy in the way people come together. She said more activities would be good for vaccinated individuals once the number of cases and deaths decreases, more Americans are vaccinated, and as more science emerges about the ability of those vaccinated to get and spread the virus.
The CDC continues to recommend that fully vaccinated people still wear well-fitting masks, avoid large gatherings, and physically distance themselves from others when in public. The CDC also recommended that vaccinated people get tested if they develop symptoms that could be related to COVID-19.
The CDC guidelines did not speak to people who may have acquired some degree of immunity to coronavirus infection and recovery.
Officials say a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. According to the CDC, about 31 million Americans – or only about 9% of the U.S. population – have been fully vaccinated with a federally authorized COVID-19 vaccine so far.
Authorized vaccine doses first became available in December, and they were products requiring two doses weeks apart. But since January, a small but growing number of Americans have been fully vaccinated and are asking questions like, should I still wear a mask? Can I go to a bar now? Can I finally see my grandchildren?
The guidance was “welcome news to a country that is understandably tired of the pandemic and eager to return to normal activities safely,” said Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC.
“I hope this new guideline gives everyone the momentum to get vaccinated when they can and gives states the patience to follow the public health roadmap needed to safely reopen their economies and communities,” Besser said in a statement.
But some said the guidance is too cautious.
Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska College of Public Health, said the guidance is reasonable in many ways – with the exception of travel.
The CDC has not changed its travel recommendations, which discourages unnecessary travel and requires testing within a few days of the trip. That can seem confusing to vaccinated people who want to visit relatives across the country or abroad.
“They need to relax travel for those vaccinated,” and immediately publish electronic standards for documents proving whether a person is fully vaccinated, said Khan, who was previously a leading CDC disease detective.
The new guidelines also say nothing about going to restaurants or other places, even though governors are lifting restrictions on businesses, said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of public health at George Washington University who was previously Baltimore’s health commissioner.
Wen has said the CDC should have had some sort of post-vaccination counseling ready in January, when some people first started finishing their second dose. And she called the guidance that came out on Monday ‘way too careful’.
“The CDC misses a significant opportunity to link vaccination status with reopening guidelines. By coming out with such limited guidance, they miss the window to influence state and national policy,” Wen said in an email. mail.
But some people who have been fully vaccinated were happy with Monday’s news.
Ruth Michienzi was among those who received her second and final vaccination dose Monday morning at a pharmacy in a Stop and Shop supermarket in Woburn, Massachusetts.
The 91-year-old resident of nearby Burlington said she’s fine with still having to wear a face mask in public and follow other safety guidelines even after she’s fully vaccinated.
But Michienzi also said she’s excited to finally be able to take off her mask for her three great-grandchildren. She’s seen them in person since she got her first injection about a month ago, but she’s kept her mask on.
“I hope they remember me,” she said.
“I’ve been doing all of that for a year and I don’t want that year to be lost,” Michienzi said of the safety regulations. “I think it’s smart to wait.”
However, a few customers, who did not queue to receive shots, were openly outraged by the continued restrictions and expressed fears that stricter regulations for travel and socializing would follow, even if more are vaccinated.
Grace McShane, 61, of Melrose, also received her second dose at the same supermarket Monday.
She says she was eligible for the vaccine because she is at high risk, including a heart attack last year. The caregiver said she, too, was okay with the continued restrictions, even after being vaccinated.
“Even if you have been vaccinated, it is better to be safe than sorry. This is the new normal. This is part of life and you just have to adapt to it,” said McShane.
She said she is looking forward to hugging her three grandchildren without wearing a mask. Her adult children have also been vaccinated as essential workers, she said.
“Just hug and give them a hug,” McShane said. “That’s all I want to do.”
Associated Press reporters Phil Marcelo in Boston and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
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