CDC Update: Fully vaccinated people not required to quarantine after exposure if they meet criteria

(KION) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its quarantine recommendations for people who are fully vaccinated Wednesday.

According to the agency, people who are fully vaccinated and meet certain criteria will not be required to quarantine if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

A person is considered fully vaccinated more than two weeks after receiving a second vaccine dose in a 2-dose series or more than two weeks after a single-dose vaccine. The person will also need to be vaccinated within the past three months and asymptomatic to not be required to quarantine.

"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; symptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission is thought to have a greater role in transmission than purely asymptomatic transmission. Additionally, individual and societal benefits of avoiding unnecessary quarantine may outweigh the potential but unknown risk of transmission, and facilitate the direction of public health resources to persons at highest risk for transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to others," the CDC wrote.

Fully vaccinated people who have been exposed should still monitor for symptoms in the following 14 days and get tested if they show symptoms.

The CDC makes an exception for vaccinated inpatients and residents in healthcare settings. The agency continues to recommend that they quarantine following COVID-19 exposure, even if they are fully vaccinated.