CDC wants vaccinated Americans to wear masks as Delta COVID cases rise

The United
States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will recommend that vaccinated
people should start wearing masks indoor again, at least in some cases. The new
guideline comes in light of the Delta variant becoming the prominent COVID-19
variant in the country.

The new
guideline marks a sharp shift from the health agency’s position since May this
year that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most indoor spaces,
reports New York Times.

The shift
comes amid reports of rising breakthrough infections of the Delta variant of
the novel coronavirus in people who have received both doses of their vaccine.

The CDC
maintains that vaccines remain effective against the worst outcomes of
infection with the virus, including those involving the Delta variant. The
details of the new guideline are expected in course of Tuesday.

Only last
week, a CDC spokesperson had said that the US top health agency was not
planning on reversing its guidance on masks.

However,
federal officials convened a meeting on Sunday night to review the new evidence
on breakthrough infections which is said to have led to this new guideline and
the shift in CDC’s position.

Soon after
the announcement, CDC released results from a study which showed that the mRNA
vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech were 94% effective in preventing
symptomatic illness among people who have received both shots of the vaccines
and 82% among people who have received only one shot.

However, the
results of this study are said to be based on COVID infections reported before
the Delta variant swept the country. New reports of infection clusters among
fully immunised people have suggested that the Delta variant has been able to
break through the vaccine barrier.

On Sunday,
Dr Anthony S Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical officer had said that
the pandemic was “going in the wrong direction” because too many Americans were
avoiding getting vaccinated.

Speaking at
CNN’s State of the Union programme, Dr Fauci had said that use of masks by
vaccinated people was “under active consideration” adding that it was prudent
for vaccinated people to wear masks in areas with “a lot of dynamics of
infection”.

The federal
database shows that roughly a little that than half of the population of United
States has been fully vaccinated.