Source: Bloomberg
By Josh Wingrove and Fiona Rutherford March 8, 2021, 11:00 AM EST Updated on
- Agency issues guidance for those vaccinated, including travel
- Guideline shift comes amid warnings over risks from virus
Vaccinated people can visit indoors without masks, but must still wear them in public and avoid large gatherings when around those who aren’t immunized or are at high risk for contracting Covid-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.
The agency issued its long-awaited guidance for what fully vaccinated people can safely do, as inoculations rise but as health experts warn that the risk of the virus remains, especially with new variants.
Broadly, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people can meet freely in private settings with other fully vaccinated people, but that several restrictions remain, including advising against travel and recommending mask wearing in public.
Two weeks after people receive their final vaccine dose of the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines or their one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, they’re considered fully immunized and can meet indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing masks or social distancing, the CDC said. Such gatherings are “low risk,” the CDC said.
Categories: Health, Travel, travel ban, Travel News, Vaccine
(CNN)New guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely visit with other vaccinated people and small groups of unvaccinated people in some circumstances, but there are still important safety precautions needed.
What CDC guidelines will likely say (and not say) to do if you're vaccinated
What CDC guidelines will likely say (and not say) to do if you’re vaccinated
“Covid-19 continues to exert a tremendous toll on our nation. Like you, I want to be able to return to everyday activities and engage with our friends, families, and communities,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the White House briefing Monday. “Science, and the protection of public health must guide us as we begin to resume these activities. Today’s action represents an important first step. It is not our final destination.”
“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.”
The CDC defines people who are fully vaccinated as those who are two weeks past their second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines or two weeks past a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. There is growing evidence that people who are vaccinated don’t spread Covid-19, but scientists are still trying to understand how long vaccine protection lasts.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/08/health/covid-19-vaccine-cdc-guidelines-fully-vaccinated/index.html
Signs suggesting a highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant that was first detected in the UK could cause another rise in cases is another concern.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, has said the B.1.1.7 variant is showing up in 30% to 40% of the Covid-19 cases examined in US surveillance checks, up from just 1%-2% just weeks ago. When the saturation reached 50% in Europe, cases surged, he said.
In Houston alone, the variant was found in surveillance testing of wastewater at 21 of the city’s 31 treatment plants on February 8; two weeks later, it was found at 31, the city’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Persse, said Monday.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/09/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html
I think we have the only efficacy data for a vaccine against three strains of the vaccine. We’ve got the original, which is called the Wuhan strain, and we have shown that we have 96% efficacy against that strain. And then in that same trial, we showed that against the U.K. strain, which is what is now circulating in the United States, was shown 86% efficacy. So very good efficacy. And then when you get [to the South African strain], we got efficacy in the 50% range. Still good efficacy.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/healthcare/novavax-ceo-150-million-covid-vaccine-doses-manufactured-per-month