The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lost a lot of credibility during the Covid-19 pandemic because they were late or wrong in testing, masks, vaccine distribution and school reopening. Staying consistent with this pattern, this week – three months after the vaccine was launched – the CDC has finally begun to tell vaccinated people that they can have normal interactions with other vaccinated people – but only in highly limited circumstances. Given the vaccine’s impressive effectiveness, this should have been made immediately obvious by the application of scientific inference and common sense.
Parts of the new guidelines are absurdly restrictive. For example, the CDC did not withdraw its advice to avoid air travel after vaccination. A year of pre-vaccine experience has shown that airplanes are not a source of spread. A study conducted for the defense department found that commercial airplanes have HEPA filtration and airflow that exceeds the standards of a hospital operating room.
The guidelines approve that vaccinated people meet low-risk, unvaccinated people – but only with people in the same household and in a small private setting. Both for restaurants, birthday parties and weddings.
An unpublished study conducted by the Israeli Ministry of Health and Pfizer showed that vaccination reduced transmission by 89% to 94% and almost completely prevented hospitalization and death, according to press reports. Immunity is fully activated about four weeks after the first dose of the vaccine, and then you are essentially bulletproof. With the added security of wearing a mask indoors for a few more weeks or months – a practical necessity in public places, even if you are not a doctor, since you cannot tell at a glance if someone is immune – there is little that a person vaccinated should be discouraged from doing.
On a positive note, the CDC said that fully vaccinated people who are asymptomatic do not need to be tested. But that obvious recommendation should have come two months ago, before wasting so many tests on people who have high levels of circulating antibodies because of the vaccination.