Mukund Patel
Chicago (USA): Fully vaccinated Americans can now go mask-less in most indoor and outdoor settings, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced on Thursday.
But some confusion persists. While some states are going ahead with a mask-free environment, others are cautiously inching forward, media reported.
“If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic. Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance”, Dr. Walensky said.
Welcoming the move, US President Joe Biden said, “I think it’s a great milestone. A great day. It’s been made possible by the extraordinary success we’ve had in vaccinating so many Americans so quickly. To date, we have given out 250 million shots in 114 days, and we’re seeing the results.”
In the US, anyone can find the nearest vaccine site by texting ZIP code to the following number 438829. Anyone 12 years or above age is eligible for the vaccine. Nearly 60 percent of adult Americans have taken at least one shot. More than 20,000 local pharmacies in communities across the nation are now offering walk-in vaccinations.
The new guidance allows those who have been immunized to go mask-free in most places, the CDC announced, crediting data showing the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines that are being administered across the US. The CDC also no longer recommends that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activity, large or small, without worrying about physical distancing,” said Dr. Walensky.
“We have all longed for this moment where we can get back to some semblance of normalcy, based on a continual downward trajectory pacing the scientific data on the performance of our vaccine, and our understanding of how the virus spread,” she added.
The CDC is still calling for masks to be worn in crowded settings such as healthcare facilities, public transportation, airplanes, aeroports, prisons, and homeless shelters.
The guidance states that those who are unvaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated – those who have received only one shot of the two-shot immunization or have not reached the end of the two-week post-vaccination waiting period – still must wear masks.
“Look, we’ve gotten this far. Please protect yourself until you get to the finish line,” President Biden said, adding, “as great as this announcement is today, we don’t want to let up.”
The easing guidance could open the door to confusion, as there is no surefire way for businesses or others to distinguish between those fully vaccinated and those who are not.
In late April, the CDC said fully vaccinated people can safely engage in outdoor activities like walking and hiking without wearing masks but it recommended continuing to use face-coverings in public spaces where they are required.
The announcement comes as the CDC and the Biden administration have faced pressure to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people — people who are two weeks past their last required Covid-19 vaccine dose — in part to highlight the benefits of getting the shot.
The new guidance comes as the aggressive US vaccination campaign begins to pay off. US virus cases are at their lowest rate since September, deaths are at their lowest point since last April and the test positivity rate is at the lowest point since the pandemic began, according to media reports.
To date about 154 million Americans, more than 46 percent of the population, have received at least one dose of the vaccines, and over 117 million are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks, but with the authorization, Wednesday of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12-15, a new burst of doses is expected in the coming days.
During a virtual meeting Tuesday on vaccinations with a bipartisan group of governors, Biden appeared to acknowledge that his administration had to do more to model the benefits of vaccination.
“I would like to say that we have fully vaccinated people; we should start acting like it,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, told Biden. “And that’s a big motivation to get the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.”