What you can and can’t do after getting fully vaccinated

Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II, Chris Megerian, Colleen Shalby

People who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can resume some parts of their old life but must remain vigilant in many ways as the pandemic continues, according to new federal guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We’ve been through a lot this past year, and with more and more people getting vaccinated, each day we are starting to turn a corner,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said during a briefing Monday. “And as more Americans are vaccinated, a growing body of evidence now tells us that there are some activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk to themselves.”

Who is fully vaccinated? Someone is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the final required shot, Walensky said. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines entail two doses, administered weeks apart, while the newly arriving Johnson & Johnson vaccine needs only a single shot.

Walensky emphasized that the recommendations unveiled Monday “are just a first step,” and will be updated “as more people get vaccinated and the science and evidence expands, and as the disease dynamics of this country change.”

What can I do if I’m fully vaccinated? The CDC offers the following recommendations:

You can gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask.You can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms. However, if you live in a group setting (like a correctional or detention facility or group home) and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still stay away from others for 14 days and get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms. You should still take steps to protect yourself and others in many situations, like wearing a mask, staying at least six feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces.

In public — You should still avoid medium- or large-sized gatherings. You should still delay domestic and international travel. If you do travel, you’ll still need to follow CDC requirements and recommendations. You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others. You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace. The new guidance underscores what health officials and experts have been saying for weeks — that the vaccine can bring some lifestyle changes but not a full-blown return to pre-pandemic life.

Here are some other key points experts are making:

Dinner parties — It would be safest to wait until everyone getting together is vaccinated, health experts say. Full protection may not come until a week or two after the required number of vaccine doses.

Gatherings — Dr. Monica Gandhi, a UC San Francisco professor of medicine and medical director of the HIV Clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, said at a campus forum that she thinks fully vaccinated people can be free to mingle with one another, such as at a party, without restrictions.

But when vaccinated people are around those who haven’t gotten their inoculations, everyone should keep their masks on, Gandhi said. “Let’s keep it safe and keep our masks on around the unvaccinated,” she said.

Though some outside the federal government have expressed opinions about what is considered safe, Andy Slavitt, a senior advisor to the White House COVID19 response team, said at the briefing last month that while “that’s a part of the discourse ... it’s not one that we are going to jump in to too hastily.”