The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clarified Wednesday that those who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if they knowingly come into contact with a person infected with the virus.
According to the CDC, anyone who has received a full dose of a COVID-19 vaccine does not need to follow the standard 14-day quarantine if they’re within three months of their vaccination and do not develop symptoms of the virus.
However, those who have only received the first of their two shots, who have been vaccinated for longer than three months or who develop symptoms should quarantine for two weeks if they are exposed to a person with COVID-19.
Previously, the CDC had recommended that those who had been vaccinated continue to quarantine upon exposure, as the information is currently unclear if those who have been vaccinated can continue to spread the virus. It's also unclear how long protection from vaccination lasts.
However, the CDC said Wednesday that people who contract the virus but are asymptomatic are less likely to spread the disease.
“Although the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from vaccinated persons to others is still uncertain, vaccination has been demonstrated to prevent symptomatic COVID-19,” the CDC said on its website Wednesday. “Symptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission is thought to have a greater role in transmission than purely asymptomatic transmission.”
The CDC says those who have been vaccinated should continue to social distance, wear masks, avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces and follow other public health guidelines.