Vacation after Vaccination?

On April 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its travel guidance for fully vaccinated people to reflect the latest evidence and science.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last recommended dose of vaccine.

Fully vaccinated people can travel within the United States and do not need COVID-19 testing or post-travel self-quarantine as long as they continue to take COVID-19 precautions while traveling – wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, socially distancing, and washing hands frequently.

They can travel internationally without getting a COVID-19 test before travel unless required by the destination.

Fully vaccinated people do not need to self-quarantine after returning to the United States, unless required by a state or local jurisdiction.

They must, however, still have a negative COVID-19 test result before they board a flight to the United States and get a COVID-19 test three to five days after returning from international travel.

Fully vaccinated people should continue to take COVID-19 precautions while traveling internationally.

This guidance does not change the agency’s existing guidance for people who are not fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated travelers should still get tested 1-3 days before domestic travel and again 3-5 days after travel. They should stay home and self-quarantine for seven days after travel or 10 days if they don’t get tested at the conclusion of travel. The CDC discourages non-essential domestic travel by those who are not fully vaccinated.

Due to the large number of Americans who remain unvaccinated and the current state of the pandemic, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people continue to avoid crowds, social distance, wash hands frequently, and wear a mask when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple other households, and when around unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19.