--- title: The CDC's New Mask Guidance Is Motivating Vaccinations description: Nearly half of Americans who have recently been vaccinated, or plan to get vaccinated soon, are worried about being around unmasked people. canonical: https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-05-26T14:35:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:12:04.956Z article:section: Health og:title: The CDC's New Mask Guidance May Be Motivating People to Get Vaccinated og:description: But not for the reason you might think og:url: https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2618335a3f6f8ba8/698a19e9db29874c30266932/cdc-mask-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Washington State Businesses Navigate New Rules On Mask-Wearing Indoors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The CDC's New Mask Guidance May Be Motivating People to Get Vaccinated twitter:description: But not for the reason you might think twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2618335a3f6f8ba8/698a19e9db29874c30266932/cdc-mask-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The CDC's New Mask Guidance May Be Motivating People to Get Vaccinated—But Not for the Reason You Might Think > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d88c8926-11ee-4923-b370-e607c5dcb9fc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The CDC Says That The Fully Vaccinated Can Shed Masks—Both Indoors and Outdoors [Watch (HLS stream): The CDC Says That The Fully Vaccinated Can Shed Masks—Both Indoors and Outdoors](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QM8eogV2.m3u8) (3:43)  _Published 2021-05-14. In news everyone has been waiting for since last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said May 13 that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can ditch their masks, both indoors and outdoors, and stop social distancing as well._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 26, 2021 2:35 PM UTC In news everyone has been waiting for since last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said May 13 that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can ditch their masks, both indoors and outdoors, and stop social distancing as well.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 26, 2021 2:35 PM UTC As demand for vaccinations drops in the U.S., states are turning to increasingly dramatic measures—[Dinner with the governor](https://covid19.nj.gov/forms/dinner)! [Multi-million-dollar lotteries](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/states-are-introducing-vaccine-lotteries-some-multimillion-dollar-prizes-combat-n1268048)!—to convince people to get their shots. But perhaps the boldest incentive yet has come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which [said](https://time.com/6049612/cdc-mask-guidance-mistake/) on May 13 that fully vaccinated people can go maskless, inside and out. The CDC is essentially dangling a carrot: if you get your shot, you can have your regular life back. Lots of experts have [questioned](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/20/998265988/the-cdc-is-gambling-on-relaxed-mask-rules-to-get-more-people-vaccinated) whether that strategy will work, and some [argue](https://time.com/6049612/cdc-mask-guidance-mistake/?utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fsource=sfmc&utm%5Fcampaign=newsletter+coronavirus+default+ac&utm%5Fcontent=+++20210521+++body&et%5Frid=101214629) it will backfire. After all, the policy is almost impossible to enforce. There’s little to stop unvaccinated people from going mask-free right alongside those who have had their shots, which could allow the virus to keep spreading. That’s a particular risk in indoor environments, like stores and offices. But a new TIME/Harris Poll [survey,](https://theharrispoll.com/cdc-unmasking-impact-may-2021/) conducted May 18-19 among 1,075 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, offers a slightly more optimistic view of the CDC’s gamble. The agency’s policy, Harris found, is motivating some Americans who are getting vaccinated—but not necessarily for the reason you’d think. Among respondents who were either vaccinated in the seven days ahead of Harris’ research or who said they planned to get vaccinated in the near future, 23% said that the CDC’s new mask policy encouraged them to get a shot. That’s a positive, if not massive, effect. But the data also reveal an arguably more interesting finding: among the same group, 41% said they got or plan to get vaccinated at least in part because they’re worried about being around maskless unvaccinated people. The CDC’s new policy probably isn’t the only driver of that feeling—more people are going maskless as case counts drop and states reopen regardless—but it likely played a role. Whether that was the agency’s intended result or not, it does seem that its mask policy is affecting people’s vaccination decisions. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/"},"headline":"The CDC's New Mask Guidance May Be Motivating People to Get Vaccinated—But Not for the Reason You Might Think","datePublished":"2021-05-26T14:35:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:12:04.956Z","description":"But not for the reason you might think","url":"https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2618335a3f6f8ba8/698a19e9db29874c30266932/cdc-mask-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2618335a3f6f8ba8/698a19e9db29874c30266932/cdc-mask-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Washington State Businesses Navigate New Rules On Mask-Wearing Indoors","caption":"A digital highway sign promotes COVID-19 vaccination on May 14, 2021 in Vancouver, Washington.","creditText":"Nathan Howard—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/","name":"The CDC's New Mask Guidance May Be Motivating People to Get Vaccinated—But Not for the Reason You Might Think"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The CDC Says That The Fully Vaccinated Can Shed Masks—Both Indoors and Outdoors","description":"In news everyone has been waiting for since last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said May 13 that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can ditch their masks, both indoors and outdoors, and stop social distancing as well.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QM8eogV2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-05-14T13:22:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QM8eogV2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/","duration":"PT3M43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6051290/cdc-vaccine-mask/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```