According to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, fully vaccinated individuals can gather indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing.
The CDC considers an individual to be “fully vaccinated” once two weeks have passed since they received the final dose of their vaccine regimen.
For the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, that’s two weeks after the receiving the second dose. For the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it’s two weeks after receiving the shot.
Fully vaccinated individuals can also visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing, and can avoid testing and quarantine if they are asymptomatic after exposure to COVID.
“If you and a friend, or you and a family member are both vaccinated, you can have dinner together” without wearing masks or without distancing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing on Monday. “You can visit your grandparents, if you have been vaccinated and they have been too.”
But, fully vaccinated should continue to wear masks and maintain distance when in public. They should also follow masking and distancing guidelines when visiting with people at severe risk for COVID-19 disease who have not been vaccinated, or when socializing with groups of unvaccinated people from multiple households, even if they are at low risk of disease
The CDC also recommends that people who have been vaccinated avoid gathering in larger groups and should get tested if they show any symptoms of COVID-19.
