CDC Guidance for Fully Vaccinated Individuals

Submitted by Aimee Brown

The CDC released guidance on how to protect yourself and others when you’ve been fully vaccinated.  People are considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after their second dose of 2-dose vaccines such as Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or 2 weeks after their single-dose vaccine such as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Fully vaccinated people may gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask or physical distancing.  You may also gather indoors with low-risk, unvaccinated people from one other household (ex. visiting with relatives who all live together).  And, if you are exposed to someone who has COVID-19 (and you are symptom free), you don’t need to be tested or quarantine (in most cases).

Note: You should avoid gathering with an unvaccinated person who is at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 or gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one other household. 

The CDC is urging people to continue to take precautions in public like wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart from others and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces.  It is not yet known how long immunity will last or how effective vaccines are against variants of the virus.  The good news is that the CDC reports that more people have been fully vaccinated in the United States than the number of people infected with COVID-19.