New CDC guidance: Fully vaccinated people don't need masks

It’s mask-off time if you’re fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to new Centers for Disease Control guidance announced Thursday.
Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance, the CDC said.
Being fully vaccinated means that two weeks have elapsed since you completed your vaccination series. Moderna and Pfizer vaccinations require two shots, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires one shot.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick,” the CDC said.
“Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.”
Louisiana people have been subject to some form of mask requirement for 14 months.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, took some of the credit for the new CDC guidance in a press re-lease Thursday.
“Americans knew before the CDC that if you were vaccinated, you shouldn’t have to wear a mask. When CDC takes too long to admit what everyone knows, CDC loses credibility. Let’s get back to normal,” said Cassidy, who is a physician.
The CDC announcement comes two days after Cassidy expressed Americans’ “incredible frustration” with the disconnect between CDC guidelines and current science to Drs. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing.