If you’re fully vaccinated, do you still need to get COVID tests?
According to guidance from medical experts, fully vaccinated people should feel safe resuming some activities, like unmasked indoor gatherings with other vaccinated people. However, it’s important to be tested. While fully vaccinated people may not need to test as often, there are still some situations where it could be important to get a coronavirus test.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a fully vaccinated person can "refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure" so long as they stay asymptomatic. If a person develops COVID-19 symptoms following exposure, they should be tested even if they are vaccinated.
"For most people who are vaccinated, the risks of them contracting COVID are pretty, pretty low,” Dr Gigi Kwik Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, noting the success of the vaccines currently in use. "... If you were to be exposed to it, the virus has a chance to try and replicate, but your body shuts that down. ... I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's very, very unlikely."
Gronvall recommended that people take their specific situations into account when deciding whether or not to seek out testing: If you work with high-risk people who aren't vaccinated or live with an unvaccinated family member, it might be worth getting tested following a confirmed exposure.
According to the CDC, fully vaccinated people can resume domestic and international travel and do not need to get tested or quarantine either before or after their trips. However, some international destinations may require travellers to show proof of a negative test.
Airlines and cruise lines may also require proof of a negative test, regardless of vaccination status.
However, if your airline doesn't require it and you aren't showing symptoms of COVID-19, people likely don't need to test themselves before travel.
If you start having symptoms of COVID-19, whether or not you have confirmed exposure to the virus, it’s recommended to get tested.
"If you get sick, you definitely should get tested because, while those symptoms might not be related to COVID, if they were, you'd want to know, and you'd want to prevent transmission to other people and take care of yourself," said Dr Lucian Davis, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, noting that no vaccine is perfect and that there have been some recorded breakthrough cases. "If you're feeling sick, definitely get tested."
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