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The CDC said that its travel guidance for vaccinated people would not change until more people received the vaccines.
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The agency relaxed on Monday some recommendations for people vaccinated – but not related to travel.
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Even so, people are making vacation plans.
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The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not yet update their travel rules for vaccinated people, their director said on Wednesday.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency was “really looking forward to updating this guidance”, but it was not yet there.
The changes will come “as we have more protection in communities and the population,” she said.
Walensky was answering a press question at a meeting at the White House on Wednesday.
CDC guidelines for vaccinated people were released on Monday. The agency now considers it safe for fully vaccinated people to visit indoor spaces with others who have received their full set of vaccines and with some unvaccinated relatives.
But the CDC has not updated its recommendations for non-essential travel.
The CDC recommends that people do not travel if they can avoid it. If travel is unavoidable, the agency says, vaccinated people should wait two weeks after receiving the second dose of the vaccine.
Those who have been vaccinated should continue to wear masks and follow the CDC’s advice for social detachment, “as well as people who have not yet been vaccinated,” said Walensky.
Walensky noted that cases can increase when people start traveling. “We saw this after the 4th of July,” she said. “We saw it after Labor Day. We saw it after Christmas break.”
She emphasized that 90% of people in the United States were still “unprotected and not vaccinated”.
Some 32 million in the United States have been fully vaccinated so far, according to data from John Hopkins University.
But the White House is concerned about data that shows that the decline in the number of US COVID-19 cases has started to stabilize.
Despite the recommendation against non-essential travel, people still make reservations for spring.
Disney World in Florida is reserved for most of March.
Spring break can “spell disaster,” Dr. Peter Hotez, a leading global health expert, told CNN. “This is not the time for a super-propagating event,” he said.
The Airlines For America industry group opposed the CDC, arguing in a statement released by CNN that being on a plane posed a relatively low risk because the air is so filtered.
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