CDC issues first recommendations for people fully vaccinated for COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have produced the first set of guidelines for people who have received either 2 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or the 1 dose of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine.1

For the purposes of the guidance, a person is considered fully vaccinated for COVID-19, ≥2 weeks after receiving the second dose of the 2-dose vaccines and the ≥2 weeks after receiving the vaccine of the single-dose vaccine. The recommendations are also only for non-health care settings.

A fully vaccinated people can:

• Visit with other fully vaccinated people in an indoor space without mask wearing or social distancing.
• Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household without mask wearing or social distancing, if the unvaccinated people are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease
• Abstain from quarantine and testing after a known exposure, if the exposure was to asymptomatic people.

The guidance also recommends that fully vaccinated people continue to:

• Wear a well-fitted face covering in public
• Continue mask wearing, social distancing, and other infection control measures when visiting with unvaccinated people at increased risk of severe disease or if visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
• Undergo testing if COVID-19 symptoms occur
• Follow CDC and health department travel requirements
• Continue avoiding medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings.

For those who are still waiting for a vaccine, as a briefing from Infectious Diseases in America noted, face masking, testing, and social distancing remain key to controlling the spread. Tina Q. Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, editor-in-chief of Contemporary Pediatrics noted, “It is still recommended that whether or not you have had a COVID-19 vaccine, you wear a mask, practice social distancing, good hand hygiene etc. Vaccinated persons can still transmit virus if they are asymptomatically infected. Wearing a mask is especially important in enclosed spaces that may not have good ventilation ie, indoors.”

Reference

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Interim public health recommendations for fully vaccinated people. Published March 8, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html