Yesterday, the CDC published new guidance for fully vaccinated individuals. In this article, we will summarize the key points of this new guidance.
First, we must understand what it means to be fully vaccinated. The full effect of vaccine-induced immunity takes about 2 weeks, so an individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after the final vaccine injection. The final vaccine injection is the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single dose of the Janssen vaccine.
Last month, the CDC issued guidance lifting the quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated individuals following a COVID exposure, provided they remain asymptomatic. Previously, this permission expired after 90 days. Yesterday, the CDC affirmed its previous guidance, but lifted the 90-day expiration. According to current CDC guidance, there is no longer an outer time-limit for the benefit of vaccine-induced immunity. This is bound to change; we will follow closely.
To the removal of quarantine requirement, the CDC also added two additional liberties yesterday: (1) fully vaccinated individuals may visit indoors with other fully vaccinated individuals without wearing masks or social distancing, and (2) fully vaccinated individuals may visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for COVID-19 without wearing masks or social distancing.
Other COVID precautions remain in force for fully vaccinated individuals, including masking and social distancing in public except in the specific situations mentioned above. If symptoms develop, fully vaccinated individuals should follow the same quarantine and testing recommendations of unvaccinated individuals.
