CDC delay guidelines for vaccinated people

A third senior management official expected the guidelines to be released “soon”. A quarter said that Covid-19’s main guidelines often go through “rigorous deliberations” in the last few days before its launch.

“CDC’s guidance will not be published tomorrow because we have not finalized it here at CDC. As soon as it is finalized, we will publish and disseminate it, ”said Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the agency.

There is no evidence to suggest that the Biden White House is attempting to suppress the CDC’s guidelines or set aside the judgment of CDC scientists.

But officials at the country’s health agencies are nervous after years of repeated political interference from the Trump administration, which famously cut the CDC from critical political talks about Covid-19. And Trump’s HHS appointees routinely interfered in the agency’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Reports, as revealed by the POLITICO for the first time.

The CDC guidelines for vaccinated people, as outlined for POLITICO earlier this week, should say that those who received a full course of vaccine could socialize with other people vaccinated in small groups at home without masks. But the guidelines said that vaccinated individuals must continue to adhere to the masks and the guidelines for social distancing in public. The guidelines have also been defined to include various scenarios to be considered by immunized people, including travel.

As inoculations increase, Americans are eager to start getting back to normal. And while CDC director Rochelle Walensky has repeatedly said that the country needs to remain vigilant, the draft council would offer Americans a glimpse of hope – that the United States was going in the right direction.

The guidelines were originally designed when the United States had only two vaccines available, from Moderna and Pfizer, said one of the senior government officials. The FDA recently authorized the use of a vaccine by Johnson & Johnson, and the administration is sending millions of doses to states across the country. But although Moderna and Pfizer injections are given in two doses and J&J injections in one, it takes about 14 days after the final dose of each for immunity to develop.

The CDC’s guidance has been set to come out at a time when the White House and Biden task force Covid-19 is trying to counter the Texas and Mississippi governors who have revoked the masking mandates and are fully reopening their economies . Since the announcements on Tuesday, several White House officials, including the president himself, have denounced the decision. During a discussion with the press on Wednesday, Biden said the move to relax public health measures reflected “Neanderthal thinking”.

Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.

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