By: Tayhana Taylor, World News Editor
In March 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the first set of guidelines for those who have been vaccinated. Here are the details about the interim guidelines.
A person is considered to be “completely vaccinated” for COVID-19 after receiving a single-dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine or two weeks after receiving the second dose in a two-dose series of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the CDC, said, “As more Americans are vaccinated, a growing body of evidence now tells us that there are some activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk to themselves.”
According to the CDC, a person who is fully vaccinated is permitted to do the following:
- Visit with other fully vaccinated people, indoors without wearing masks, or physical distancing.
- COVID-19 symptoms, indoors, without wearing masks or physical distancing.[HR3]
- Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic.
Alongside these new guidelines, the CDC encourages that, even though you may be fully vaccinated, there are still some health and safety protocols that you must adhere to. These include:
- Continue to take precautions in public areas by wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing.
- Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and follow other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at high risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at high risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms.
- Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households.
- Avoid attending medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings.
- Get tested if experiencing any form of COVID-19 symptoms.
- Follow guidance issued by individual employers.
- Continue to Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations[HR5]
Over 93 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Americans as of Dec. 14, 2020. According to the CDC, the vaccine has presently reached 18.1% of the total US population. Over 2.1 million shots of the vaccine are being administered daily.
President Biden has also released information that, due to a partnership between
Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and the federal government, there will be enough vaccines available for every American by the end of May 2021. This is two months earlier than the estimated timeline, which was July 2021.
Please visit https://www.cdc.gov/ for more COVID-19 vaccination information and updates.
