ARCHIVED WEBPAGE: This web page is available for historical purposes. CDC is no longer updating this web page and it may not reflect CDC's current COVID-19 guidance. For the latest information, visit CDC's COVID-19 home page.

Important update: Healthcare facilities
CDC has updated select ways to operate healthcare systems effectively in response to COVID-19 vaccination. Learn more
UPDATE
Given new evidence on the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, CDC has updated the guidance for fully vaccinated people. CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with layered prevention strategies in place.
UPDATE
The White House announced that vaccines will be required for international travelers coming into the United States, with an effective date of November 8, 2021. For purposes of entry into the United States, vaccines accepted will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines. More information is available here.
UPDATE
Travel requirements to enter the United States are changing, starting November 8, 2021. More information is available here.

When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated

When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated

How to Protect Yourself and Others

CDC has updated isolation and quarantine recommendations for the public, and is revising the CDC website to reflect these changes. These recommendations do not apply to healthcare personnel and do not supersede state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations.

  • For some immunocompromised children aged 5–11 years old, CDC now recommends an additional dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to complete the primary series – a total of three doses. See media statement | Spanish.
  • CDC now recommends booster shots at 5 months after the completion of the primary series of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 12 and older. See media statement | Spanish.

COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can do things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.

These recommendations can help you make decisions about daily activities after you are fully vaccinated. They are not intended for healthcare settings.

In general, people are considered fully vaccinated: ±

  • 2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
  • 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine

If you don’t meet these requirements, regardless of your age, you are NOT fully vaccinated. Keep taking all precautions until you are fully vaccinated.

If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may not be fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated and have received an additional dose. You should continue to take all precautions recommended for unvaccinated people until advised otherwise by your healthcare provider.

Learn if you are eligible to get a booster dose or, if you are moderately or severely immunocompromised, an additional primary series dose after you are fully vaccinated.

What You Can Do

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If you’ve been fully vaccinated:

  • You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
    • To reduce the risk of being infected with the Delta variant and possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.
  • If you are not fully vaccinated and aged 2 or older, you should wear a mask in indoor public places.
  • In general, you do not need to wear a mask in outdoor settings.
  • You can travel.
    • If you travel in the United States, you do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
    • You need to pay close attention to the situation at your international destination before traveling outside the United States.
      • You do NOT need to get tested before leaving the United States unless your destination requires it.
      • You still need to show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States.
      • You should still get tested 3-5 days after international travel.
      • You do NOT need to self-quarantine after arriving in the United States.
    • Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth is required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and train stations. Travelers are not required to wear a mask in outdoor areas of a conveyance (like on open deck areas of a ferry or the uncovered top deck of a bus).

For persons who live outside the United States and are considering travel to the United States, please visit International Travel for further information.

    • You should still get tested if you’ve had close contact with someone who has COVID-19 or if you have symptoms of COVID-19.
      • If you’ve had close contact with someone who has COVID-19, you should get tested 5-7 days after your exposure, even if you don’t have symptoms. You should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative.
      • If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others. See a healthcare provider if you are really sick.
      • If your test result is positive, isolate at home for 10 days.
    • You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace and local businesses.
DEFINITION
Close Contact

Someone who was less than 6 feet away from an infected person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinical diagnosis) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. For example, three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes.

Learn more about close contact.

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About Variants

Viruses are constantly changing, including the virus that causes COVID-19. These changes occur over time and can lead to the emergence of variants that may have new characteristics. Vaccines continue to reduce a person’s risk of contracting the virus that cause COVID-19. Vaccines are highly effective against severe illness.

What We Know

  • COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, including severe illness and death.
  • COVID-19 vaccines are effective against severe disease and death from many variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 currently circulating in the United States, including the Delta variant.
  • Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, even with the Delta variant. When these infections occur among vaccinated people, they tend to be mild.
  • If you are fully vaccinated and become infected with the Delta variant, you can spread the virus to others.
  • People with weakened immune systems, including people who take immunosuppressive medications, may not be protected even if fully vaccinated.

What We’re Still Learning

  • How long COVID-19 vaccines can protect people.

Want to learn more about these recommendations? Read our expanded Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People.

± This guidance applies to COVID-19 vaccines currently approved or authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson [J&J]/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines), and can be applied to COVID-19 vaccines that have been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization. Additionally, this guidance can be applied to participants in clinical trials within or outside the United States who received all recommended “active” (not placebo) primary series doses of a WHO EUL COVID-19 vaccine that is neither approved nor authorized for use by FDA or that is not listed for emergency use by WHO, but for which a United States data and safety monitoring board or equivalent has independently confirmed efficacy. More information is available at Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines.