Coronavirus Restrictions: Masks on Children Unfair

Last week, the CDC issued long-overdue guidance finally acknowledging that vaccinated people do not have to wear masks, inside or outside. Because the United States is not going to adopt a vaccine-passport system, there is no way of telling apart adults who have been vaccinated from those who have not been. In practice, this means that in localities that adopt CDC guidance, all adults can go maskless if they want. “More than calling it an honor system, I might say people are responsible for their own health,” Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, told PBS.

Walensky’s statement was an acknowledgement that the pandemic as we have known it is over. That is, ever since March 2020, individuals were being asked to not only think of their own health, but to consider the fact that their own behavior could lead them to unwittingly spread the virus to others who were more vulnerable. But now, all adults have been eligible to get vaccinated for a month, and appointments are easy to come by. If people refuse to get vaccinated, it shouldn’t inhibit the behavior of those who have taken the shot. Walensky, in a White House press briefing, stated what many of us have been shouting for months: “The science demonstrates that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected.”

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Philip Klein

Philip Klein is the editor of National Review Online.

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Last week, the CDC issued long-overdue guidance finally acknowledging that vaccinated people do not have to wear masks, inside or outside. Because the United States is not going to adopt a vaccine-passport system, there is no way of telling apart adults who have been vaccinated from those who have not been. In practice, this means that in localities that adopt CDC guidance, all adults can go maskless if they want. “More than calling it an honor system, I might say people are responsible for their own health,” Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, told PBS.

Walensky’s statement was an acknowledgement that the pandemic as we have known it is over. That is, ever since March 2020, individuals were being asked to not only think of their own health, but to consider the fact that their own behavior could lead them to unwittingly spread the virus to others who were more vulnerable. But now, all adults have been eligible to get vaccinated for a month, and appointments are easy to come by. If people refuse to get vaccinated, it shouldn’t inhibit the behavior of those who have taken the shot. Walensky, in a White House press briefing, stated what many of us have been shouting for months: “The science demonstrates that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected.”