Fully vaccinated Americans can largely do away with wearing masks, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday, the most significant shift in federal guidelines since the start of the pandemic.

“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor or outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” CDC chief Rochelle Walensky said at a White House news briefing. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”..