CDC Guidance Update For Vaccinated Individuals/Employees

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) released updated guidance today applicable to  individuals recently vaccinated against COVID-19 with one of the vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Notable, the update recommends that “fully vaccinated” people (defined as two or more weeks after they have received the second dose in a two-dose series or two weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine), with no COVID-19 symptoms, who have had close-contact exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, do not need to quarantine. This guidance also applies to employees of non-healthcare and low-density workplaces.

Employees in non-healthcare congregate settings and other high-density workplaces, e.g., meat and poultry processing and manufacturing plants, with no COVID-19 symptoms, also do not need to quarantine following exposure; however, the CDC recommends the employee be tested following exposure (likely prior to returning to the workplace), and adhere to thorough routine workplace health screenings.

The CDC’s new guidance for recently vaccinated individuals provides further incentive for employers to encourage or require employees to be inoculated against COVID-19 once they are eligible to receive an FDA approved vaccine.  Porzio’s previous articles discussing employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccination policies can be found here and here.