By now, if you’ve been able to secure at least your first COVID vaccine shot- congratulations! You’re now on your way to entering the “new normal” of some relaxation of the limitations under which you’ve been living for this past year. In fact, just this week the CDC issued new guidelines for those of us who are “fully” vaccinated i.e, 2 weeks or more past the second and final dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or 2 weeks past the one-shot from Johnson and Johnson. The bottom line of these recommendations? You can now get together in small gatherings and private settings, inside, without masks or social distancing with others who have been fully vaccinated. However, if you are getting together with another household that includes unvaccinated people (such as young children) you should only do so without masks or distancing if no one in that other household is at risk for severe COVID. In other words, the one essential question so many of us have been pondering has now been answered: as the CDC says, “Fully vaccinated grandparents can visit indoors with their unvaccinated healthy daughter and her healthy children without wearing masks or physical distancing, provided none of the unvaccinated family members are at risk of severe COVID-19.”

It’s all a bit confusing yet exhilarating at the same time. If you’ve been fully vaccinated, the risk of acquiring a COVID infection is very small and thus you are unlikely to transmit the virus to someone else or get sick yourself (though these are not absolutes). There are some promising data out of the UK that even after just receiving your first shot, your chances of being hospitalized or dying from COVID are cut quite substantially and there are also data out of Israel that the Pfizer vaccine seems to stop the vast majority of recipients from becoming infected- which means that once vaccinated, you won’t be at risk of becoming infected yourself or posing a risk of infection to another person. While none of these are absolutes, what they do suggest is that vaccines lower the risk of infection and transmission substantially, thus paving the way for society to open up again, once we’ve achieved herd immunity. In the meantime, what the CDC still advises and urges is that mask-wearing, social distancing, hand washing, and other preventative measures continue if inside in unfamiliar settings with large numbers of unvaccinated people (or people you don’t know) as well as outside in large gatherings of unfamiliar (and possibly unvaccinated) people. The key concern in these gatherings with larger numbers is that the more unvaccinated people there are in one place, the bigger the risk of transmission, even if you are vaccinated. However, some experts suggest the CDC is being too restrictive at this time for those who are fully vaccinated and suggest the more you allow people to partake in once vaccinated, the more you will encourage the unvaccinated to roll up their sleeves and get the shot.

While the CDC did not issue new guidance to those who are vaccinated regarding travel (meaning they still recommend no non-essential travel even if you are vaccinated) it appears that many are not heeding that advice. In fact, an article in Forbes reports that a recent rise in the purchase of airline tickets has been largely driven by older adults scooping up seats. But interestingly, that increase has not been matched with an increased occupancy in hotels. We can only surmise, then, that older adults are traveling to visit loved ones (and likely staying in their loved ones’ homes upon arrival).

But it’s by no means smooth sailing for many older adults still trying to get vaccinated. While vaccination rates continue to climb every day (click here to see how it’s going in your state) many seniors continue to fall through the cracks due to lack of ability to schedule an appointment, lack of transportation to get to a vaccination center, or even lack of capacity to understand what’s going on. Fortunately, a new initiative between the Federal government and major health insurers has begun to get approximately 2 million seniors in underserved communities access to the vaccine, including help scheduling and transporting older adults to get vaccinated. In the race to get as many people as possible vaccinated and to keep ahead of the spreading variants that are easier to transmit, it’s critical to reach all those without easy access to vaccination and to deploy whatever resources are necessary, including mobile vaccination clinics and medical translators to encourage non-English speaking senior citizens to get vaccinated. 

But the good news is that the number of vaccinated seniors are rapidly rising, the availability of vaccines are dramatically increasing and at some point (hopefully sooner rather than later) many of us will be able to return to some sort of normalcy and resume our lives among our loved ones and friends. For one feel-good story of four elderly sisters apart for over a year who finally got together (to get vaccinated no less!), take out your tissues and click here.