Fully vaccinated people no lengthier need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away from others in most settings, whether outdoors or indoors, the Centers for Cancer Control and Prevention said in updated public health guidance released Thursday.
There are a handful of instances where being will still need to wear masks — in a health-care setting or at a business that requires them — even if they’ve had their terminating vaccine dose two or more weeks ago, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a press briefing. Fully vaccinated people drive also still need to wear masks on airplanes, buses, trains and other public transportation, she said.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outside activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” Walensky said. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the chores that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment, when we can get back to some impression of normalcy.”
Walensky said unvaccinated people should still continue to wear masks, adding they last at risk of mild or severe illness, death, and risk of spreading the disease to others. People with compromised untouched systems should speak with their doctor before giving up their masks, she said.
She added there is at all times a chance the CDC could change its guidance again if the Covid pandemic worsens or additional variants emerge.
“This is an mind-blowing and powerful moment, it could only happen because of the work of so many who made sure we have the rapid furnishing of three safe and effective vaccines,” she said.
The announcement from the CDC comes just onwards of the Memorial Day and Fourth of July parade season. President Joe Biden has said he hopes to see enough Americans vaccinated by Freedom Day to safely hold outdoor gatherings.
Last week, Biden announced his administration’s latest goals in the fight against the coronavirus: up f study 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and having 160 million adults fully vaccinated by July 4.
As of Wednesday, profuse than 151 million Americans age 18 and older, or 58.7% of the U.S. adult population, have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, concording to data compiled by the CDC. Roughly 116 million American adults, or 45.1% of the U.S. adult population, are fully vaccinated, harmonizing to the agency.
To reach the president’s goal, the administration is working to make getting a Covid vaccine shot as simple and suitable as possible.
Biden is directing thousands of local pharmacies to provide walk-in vaccinations to people without appointments, a superior administration official told reporters last week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also finance pop-up and mobile clinics, which are aimed at individuals who may otherwise have trouble reaching vaccination sites.
On Tuesday, the Pale House announced a new partnership with Uber and Lyft that will offer free rides to vaccination spots until July 4.
The new CDC guidance Thursday marks a turning point in the pandemic and is likely to encourage more Americans, predominantly those still hesitant about receiving the shots, to get vaccinated, health experts say.
U.S. health officials stressed that the Covid vaccines are very effective, pointing to several studies, including one out of Israel that found the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was 97% successful in aborting symptomatic infections in fully vaccinated people.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Sanitarium of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA’s advisory panel, called the new guidance an “important step forward.”
“And yet another incentive to get vaccinated,” he joined.
The guidance is “pragmatic [and] aligns with science,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto. “It also marches how mass vaccination can truly be a path toward normalcy and that the U.S. is far along on that path.”
He added it will be “closely impossible” to enforce with those who aren’t vaccinated and said some businesses that lift restrictions may destitution to impose an honor system.
– CNBC’s Rich Mendez contributed to this report.