Patients Have Questions About What They ‘Can’ Do Post Vaccination. Now You Have Answers

As of this writing, nearly 17% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Millions more have received at least one of the two doses they’ll need for full protection or are waiting for full protection to “kick in.” All told at this point, roughly 150 million Americans have some degree of protection. There are probably nearly that many who have a lot of questions about what they should or shouldn’t do once they’ve gotten their shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released its Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People. The document picks up where previous advisories left off, spelling out what’s considered safe for those who are completely immunized (defined by the CDC as being 2 weeks past having the second dose of a two-dose regimen, or at least two weeks after having a one-dose immunization). As we’ve mentioned previously, interactions among people who have been fully vaccinated under those terms can interact mask-free, indoors without physical distancing. The same goes for vaccinated people and low-risk, unvaccinated people who live in the same household. There’s also no need for quarantine or testing after a known exposure—as long as that vaccinated person is asymptomatic. Onset of symptoms, presumably, would trigger the need for a test. In public, fully vaccinated people are advised to continue wearing a well-fitting mask and maintaining social distancing. They should also avoid medium and large in-person gatherings, just like the unvaccinated masses, and wear a mask when interacting with high-risk individuals in the same household.