People can mix in private properties without social distancing or wearing face masks once they have been fully vaccinated against covid-19, US authorities have said. They can also visit unvaccinated people from a single household without masks or distancing, provided that household is at low聽risk for severe disease, the .
A person is deemed to be fully聽vaccinated two weeks after receiving their second dose of the聽Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or two weeks after being given the single-shot Johnson &聽Johnson vaccine.
The guidance, which marks a聽significant relaxation in restrictions, will allow many families to meet again. The CDC said the decision was underpinned by mounting evidence on the effectiveness of covid-19 vaccines at preventing asymptomatic infection and maybe transmission.
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While face masks and social distancing continue to be important, the CDC said a balanced approach would allow certain people to restart some lower-risk activities. It added that such a reward for being vaccinated could improve vaccine uptake.
As of Monday, 59 million people had been given their first dose of a聽covid-19 vaccine in the US and approximately 31 million had received their second. About 2聽million people are being vaccinated daily.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 action represents an important first step and is based on the latest #COVID19 science,鈥� tweeted Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC. The new guidance applies to private settings such as people鈥檚 homes.
Speaking at a , Walensky gave the example of vaccinated grandparents now being allowed to visit their unvaccinated daughter and her children, provided they aren鈥檛 at risk of聽severe disease.
There are limits as to how far the聽relaxation goes. Masks and social distancing will still be recommended in public for fully vaccinated people, and indoors with unvaccinated people from more than one household.
Walensky noted that there is a small risk that vaccinated people could become infected with mild disease and transmit it to others. Previously, researchers have warned that this could lead to mutations that allow the virus to escape our vaccine defences, reigniting the pandemic.
The CDC said it was confident that the vaccines provided some protection against current variants, including B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK. However, it did note that there was reduced efficacy against infection from the聽B.1.351 variant first detected in聽South Africa. There is limited genetic monitoring of variants in聽the US, so it is unclear how prevalent they are in the country.
Walensky said the US remained in a 鈥渟erious鈥� situation, with high levels of community transmission across the country. There are still 58,000 new cases a day, based on a聽seven-day average.
The CDC guidance contrasts with that from some other countries, such as the UK, where vaccinated people are required to socially distance and wear face coverings when near others, and still have strict limits on mixing.
Paul Hunter at the University of聽East Anglia, UK, said in a statement that the CDC advice 鈥渉ad some merit鈥�, but the wisdom of allowing fully vaccinated people to mix would hinge on how widely the virus was spreading in the community. He said the UK shouldn鈥檛 yet follow suit.
鈥淎llowing fully vaccinated people to meet with those who are not vaccinated is asking for trouble,鈥� said Lawrence Young at the University of Warwick, UK, in a statement.
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