Fully Vaccinated? Here's What You Can, Can't Do In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — The vaccination rate is continuing to climb in Pennsylvania, despite the recent setback involving the pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians become fully vaccinated, they're understandably eager to put the pandemic behind them and move forward with their lives into their normal activities.

So questions like — Can I travel? Do I need to wear my mask? What about social distancing? — have become quite common.

While it's understandable that residents would wish to leave these remnants of their pre-vaccinated lives behind, the CDC advice on this front is not so straightforward.

Domestic travel is allowed for fully vaccinated individuals, as is international travel, the CDC says. In both cases, residents are not required to receive tests before or after their travel.

However, they continue to advise that such travel should be limited to what is considered "essential," particularly in light of the fourth wave of the virus that has hit many parts of the country.

"While we believe that fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves, CDC is not recommending travel at this time due to the rising number of cases," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a recent White House press briefing.

If you are only partially vaccinated, you should not travel at all, the CDC says.

As far as the level of day-to-day interactions, and what to do in public, the CDC has not changed its guidance for fully vaccinated individuals. The agency still suggests that everyone should wear a mask and practice social distancing when in public, or when around unvaccinated individuals.

Throughout the pandemic, the Pennsylvania Department of Health maintained a list of states to which residents should not travel due to high levels of transmission of the virus. This restriction was lifted in early March.

The U.S. State Department continues to maintain travel advisories recommending against travel to several countries where case counts are high. Internationally, many countries maintain significant restrictions on incoming travelers, depending on the state of the pandemic in their country of origin.

As of April 22, Pennsylvania has administered 4,602,578 partial vaccinations and 2,969,315 full vaccinations. That means that more than 7.5 million of Pennsylvania's 12 million residents have received at least one shot.

See the CDC's latest full guidance for fully vaccinated individuals here.