CDC Issues Guidelines For Americans Vaccinated Against COVID-19: What You Need To Know

Federal health officials released long-anticipated guidelines for people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus Monday. 

What Happened: Fully vaccinated Americans can visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physically distancing, the Centers for Disease Control said.

Those who are fully vaccinated — meaning two weeks has passed since their last dose — may also visit with small groups of unvaccinated friends and family who are considered low risk for COVID-19 disease.

Further, people who are vaccinated do not need to quarantine or take a COVID-19 test after exposure to a positive case unless they are showing symptoms.

At this time, those who are vaccinated must still wear masks and socially distance when they are with people from multiple households, when they are near those who are high risk for serious disease and in all medium- and large-sized public gatherings.

Why It Matters: The U.S. is working quickly to administer vaccines. To date, 58.9 million people, or approximately 17.9% of the population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 30.7 million, or 9.3% of Americans, are now considered fully vaccinated.

The three vaccines now being administered include the Pfizer Inc PFE/BioNTech BNTX two-dose BNT162b2 vaccine, the Moderna Inc MRNA two-dose mRNA-1273 vaccine and the most recently approved Johnson & Johnson JNJ Janssen vaccine, which only requires a single dose.

What’s Next: The U.S. is vaccinating approximately 2.16 million Americans per day, and federal officials said they plan to release updated guidelines as more U.S. citizens are vaccinated.

No guidelines related to travel were released.

"As more people get vaccinated, levels of COVID-19 infection decline in communities, and as our understanding of Covid immunity improves, we look forward to updating these recommendations to the public,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a press conference.