Americans who have been fully vaccinated can return to travel safely, according to new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The guidance says “fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and disperse COVID-19
“People fully vaccinated with an FDA-authorized vaccine can travel safely within the United States,” says the CDC site. Furthermore, it is said that travelers who are fully vaccinated do not need to be tested before or after their trip unless required by their destination. They also don’t need to be quarantined.
“For example, fully vaccinated grandparents can fly to visit their healthy grandchildren without undergoing a COVID-19 test or quarantining themselves, provided they follow the other recommended prevention measures,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky at a White House briefing on Friday. .
The new guideline urges Americans to delay international travel until they are fully vaccinated, and Walensky said fully vaccinated people traveling internationally should still be tested on an international flight three to five days after arriving in the US.
She noted that the CDC continues to advise that “all travelers, regardless of vaccination status, should continue to wear masks while traveling on planes, buses, trains, and other modes of public transportation.” The CDC also urges travelers to keep a social distance and to wash hands “often” or use hand sanitizer.
The updates mark the first major revisions to the CDC’s guidelines for what fully vaccinated Americans can do since they were first announced last month, a sign of hope for the coming return to a more normal life, heralded by widespread immunity.
For now, however, Walensky insisted that “CDC is not recommending travel at this time because of the increasing number of cases“in the U.S.
“I want to recognize today that providing guidance amid a changing pandemic and its evolving science is complex. On the one hand, we tell you that we are worried about rising cases, wearing a mask, and avoiding travel. But on the other, we say that, if you have been vaccinated, the evolving data suggests that travel is likely to be less risky, ”she said.
After months of decline in the number of cases across the country after the winter break, the spread of COVID-19 has increased again across the country. Four out of ten US counties are now in the “red zone” of the agency, indicating high community transfer.
The CDC has also warned of highly transferable variants that often spread through travel. The B.1.1.7 strain, first identified in the UK, is now “predominant” across a wide swath of the US. from New York to Texas, a CDC spokesman said Friday.
“In terms of travel, here’s what we know: every time there’s a spate of travel, we’ve had an increase in the number of cases in this country,” Walensky said last month when asked why the agency’s recommendations were completely vaccinated travelers. “We know that many of our variants have come from international locations, and we know that the travel corridor is a place where people interact a lot.”
A week ago, Walensky said she had a sense of “impending doom”, warning that infections, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 were all on the rise.
Asked if she still had that feeling, Walensky replied, “I continue to worry that now that 80% of the population is not vaccinated, we have a lot of work to do to get this pandemic under control.”
During Friday’s press conference, federal health officials pointed to promising real-life evidence suggesting that the three COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for use in the United States – from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson – appear to remain highly effective, despite the worrying new species.
“So the main message is that vaccines work really well in practice. They work against variants, although we need more data to confirm that they have a shelf life of at least six months and that they work in adolescents,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, told reporters.
“Very, very good reason for everyone to get vaccinated as soon as it becomes available to you,” added Fauci.