For several weeks – months? – people have questioned why fully-vaccinated people were expected to wear masks – certainly outdoors, and indoors as well. Once you’re fully vaccinated, your body’s antibodies are much more effective line of defense than a piece of cloth. The piece of cloth or N95 mask are a great idea if you’re not fully vaccinated yet; until you know your body can produce the antibodies to fight it off, you would rather the virus not get inside your body. But once you’re vaccinated, wearing a mask as superfluous as wearing kneepads while riding inside an armored tank. As the president should say, come on, man, you’re already protected.
Today Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said what’s been obvious for a while now: “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” Dr. Walensky told reporters. “If you are fully vaccinated, you are protected, and you can start doing the things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic.”
I do think it’s perfect that less than 24 hours after I asked why the fully-vaccianted Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell were wearing masks for a photo op in the Oval Office – and got a giant pile of grief on social media, and repeated insistence that “Biden is just showing a good example for others” and “he’s just following the CDC guidance!” — the CDC guidance changes.