In Monday’s “CNN Newsroom”, CNN Medical Analyst, ER physician, Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University Visiting Professor and former Baltimore Commissioner of Health, Dr. Leana Wen, criticized the guidelines of the CDC on what fully vaccinated individuals can do, saying the advice that fully vaccinated individuals avoid traveling is “overly cautious in a way that defies common sense.” And that she believes that fully vaccinated individuals “should be able to travel, should be encouraged to travel”.
Wen said: “There is now growing evidence that taking vaccines also reduces your likelihood of being a carrier. We don’t know exactly how much it reduces that risk, but it’s probably substantially less and that means that, in theory, you may be asymptomatic, but you can infect other people, but that chance is still much less. And so, that’s really why I would like the CDC guidelines to go much further than they really have been. “
Wen added that the CDC advising fully vaccinated individuals to avoid travel “is one of those examples where I think the CDC is being overly cautious in a way that defies common sense. Because look at what they’re saying about quarantine. So they are saying that if someone is consciously exposed to an individual with COVID-19 and is fully vaccinated, they do not need to be tested or quarantined. If you are sitting on a plane, you are not necessarily sitting next to people with COVID-19, you are wearing a mask, ideally, you are keeping your distance. And then, it just doesn’t make sense that you can’t travel, especially if you can now reunite with your loved ones. I think a lot of people are eager to see their grandchildren that they don’t necessarily live with. So, I think it is very important to give guidance on travel. And I, in fact, would go further and say that people who are fully vaccinated should be able to travel, should be encouraged to travel. And this is one of those incentives that we can give as a way to restore the freedom that you can now travel and visit loved ones and go to museums and cultural institutions when you are fully vaccinated. “
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