The CDC updated its guidance on Thursday to say that those who have been fully vaccinated (at least two weeks after your second shot) can now spend time indoors without wearing a mask in most situations. The CDC guidance doesn’t overrule state and local laws, so people still need to follow the New York state rules — which are moving toward a full reopening but aren’t quite there yet. And in places like airplanes and subways, masks are still required. Many stores are likely to keep rules in place too.
But various other activities where mask use was previously common could see changes. The CDC says exercising vigorously without a mask is okay now, for instance.
Some people were concerned about the guidance, given that more than half of Americans are not vaccinated, and that the vast majority of children aren’t vaccinated. While kids mostly don’t get very sick from Covid, some do, and some have died of the disease.
Dear @CDCgov: What. About. MY KIDS???
One thing that has been really shocking to me about the whole pandemic is that the government seems really slow on the uptake that most parents ONLY CARE ABOUT WHAT'S BEST FOR THEIR CHILDREN.
They're all that MATTERS, for many of us!
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) May 13, 2021
There’s also some question as to whether vaccines will work as well against some of the new Covid variants.
Upper West Siders have some of the highest rates of vaccinations in the city, and a high degree of mask-wearing. So it will be interesting to watch over the coming days if people feel comfortable taking off their masks. Let us know in the survey below if you’re ready to take that step indoors if you’re fully vaccinated.
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It’s about time the CDC makes a statement of fact. Freedom rings for New Yorkers!
So what you’re saying is you only believe the CDC when their guidance aligns with your feelings. Brilliant.
Actually, that’s not at all what he’s saying, in any way.
Yet I cannot shake this feeling of impending doom, which is scientific and therefore factual.
“It’s about time the CDC makes a statement of fact.” This says the author doesn’t believe the CDC had been stating facts previously. I stand by my snark.
> While kids mostly don’t get very sick from Covid, some do, and some have died of the disease.
Come on. “Some” doesn’t even remotely capture the miniscule nature of the risk. Per the CDC, a grand total of 287 deaths have occurred in children ages 0-17 in the US.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#SexAndAge
Completely ridiculous.
If one of those 287 was your kid, you’d sing a different tune, though.
4x that die in car crashes in the US every year. Are you going to stop driving your kids around?
That’s not how logical decisions are made though. A worst case scenario with miniscule probability should not be the primary factor.
Control through fear…it’s the government way. Life is risk and you can’t govern it to zero!
Speaking of variants, there’s this:
“How a worrisome coronavirus variant spread unnoticed
on two continents.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01285-4?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=da5e2722a2-briefing-dy-20210513&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-da5e2722a2-45583286
Can’t wait for NYC to be a testing ground as tourism comes back.
There’s also this:
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/scicheck-so-far-vaccines-remain-effective-against-variants/
There are over 74 million children in the US. 241 have died from Covid. 241 is a devastating reality, but the chances of a child dying from Covid is .0003%. To not allow society to continue as before, mask free, because of this small percentage risk is as silly as it is for people to refuse the Johnson and Johnson vaccine because of a similarly tiny risk of blood clots. There’s a risk for everything. Yes, I feel comfortable taking my mask, and my kids masks, off now.
Unless your kids are fully vaccinated, they’ll need to keep wearing masks. Thanks.
Part I
I do antimicrobial research and have been fully vaccinated for more than two months. Consult with your own doc, if you have ???, but get a vaccine. Besides the CDC “official” announcement today the data in the US and overseas on this have been available in large peer reviewed studies for a while. I would point you to the NYT recent article about the CDC saying the infection rate was “less than ten percent” correct but the actual data said less than 1 percent.
The infection rate of less than 1% referred to in that article was for outdoor transmission.
Your post made sense to me until you confused that info with the idea of unmasking indoors.
How well do vaccines protect against variants?
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55659820
(Scroll down.)
Three other questions:
How long does the vaccine protection last? At one time, the estimate was that a booster would be needed after six months.
Also, as the virus keeps mutating, how many can the booster cover, given the time for research and production?
And then, is the need for the creation of boosters that fight new variants one reason why the country is so hesitant to distribute the vaccines overseas?
Also have these questions, especially since there have numerous reports that most places do not test for exactly which variant may be present when someone tests positive.
Masks should remain, even after the pandemic is over. People should just wear masks when they go outside, much like in the old days when ladies and gentlemen wouldn’t dream of leaving home without wearing a hat. Masks make it possible to be out and about without having to see everyone else’s face, which is a good thing.
Ethan, I do hope you are being ironic. This would be a very sad state of affairs.
Being filly vaccinated for several months I have not been wearing a mask. But that is because I have had my shots. Most schools, colleges and companies are requiring it to enter their property. Proof of this must be shown electronically thru the Excelsior Pass for example. To many people have been selling counterfeit vaccine cards. To get into CUNY/SUNY, MSG, Barclays etc you will need this.
Anyone over 12 can get the vaccine, so please do so asap its FREE. Obviously talk to your regular doc if you have ??? or have a condition that could be an issue
Would only take off indoors if I know that everyone else present is vaccinated.
And how will any of us know that? Especially as not all venues will check and even if they do…people will still enter and will create problems when they will not show proof because they don’t have it (Oh, I must have left it in my other jacket/handbag/luggage, etc)
How many venues have the ability to assign a person to monitor and then deal with possibly violent responses (as we’ve seen with those told they must wear masks for entry, but will not)?
I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.
I’d want to literally see the cards out on a table or somewhere in a venue. Like that will ever happen.
This is a good take.
I don’t understand your logic. If you’re fully vaccinated, why does it matter whether others in the room are vaccinated?
Excellent point, Boris. If you’re fully vaccinated you should not fear to be around the “unvaxxed” otherwise why even bother!
Because we don’t know if fully-vaccinated people can infect others. I could’ve breathed in the dreaded disease, and then walking into an elevator and sneeze, potentially infecting the unvaccinated around me. We just don’t know yet.
Make sense?
None at all. There are zero (0) cases reported of covid transmission by a fully-vaccinated person.
It is theoretically possible, in the same way that it’s theoretically possible for a person to be hit by a meteor and die. But we don’t walk around wearing combat helmets.
It will be interesting to see how the 8 NY Yankees coaches and player acquired COVID post-vaccine. Torres already had Covid, as well. Stay tuned but I bet we will never know cause they won’t talk about it. Thankfully all asymptomatic.
Makes sense only if you’re suggesting that the non-vaccinated person continue wearing a mask even in the presence of vaccinated people. The vaccinated person should not have to yield to the non-vaccinated person.
Not have to yield? Since when did common human decency mean you’re yielding to someone else? It’s not a play for dominance–it’s a pandemic!
What has happened to our country that this mindset exists!
Because you could still have COVID and potentially pass it to others. The vaccine reduces (vaccinated) peoples’ risk of severe illness and/or death. That’s what vaccines do. There are still people dying from COVID. It’s not about just one person. Never has been.
The CDC is a joke. It took until recently to figure out that a fully-vaccinated person doesn’t need to wear a mask outside? That’s still not going to change the behavior of the multitude of people I see on the UWS refusing to go maskless outside where the risk is negligible.
The CDC is not a joke. COVID-19 is is a new virus. We didn’t know how it was going to behave.
Why do you feel the need to tear them down for updating the public with new information based on new data?
Like seriously, why? How’d you get to be so willfully ignorant?
Agreed…the CDC has no credibility. As to your point about vaccinated people still wearing masks, it’s astonishing. I don’t understand how people are willing to let the government use this to control the populace. The negative indirect impact of their actions will be far worse than the direct impact.
The CDC is not a joke. The Fox News MAGA crowd are the ones who are controlling you. If not for the politics, we could’ve been done with this by now. Instead, the knee-jerk anti-government sentiment that so many people foolishly follow is what has caused so much devastation.
Have you taken the Covid vaccine quiz that’s gone viral.
No pun intended. 🙂
I just took it and learned a lot.
CovidVaccineQuiz.org
I’m still following the original CDC, SG, and White House guidance from March/ April 2020 that said masks are ineffective and Americans should not wear them. Wearing it in public now is simply an act of civil disobedience against a tyrannical government who tried to tell me what to do.
The mask stays.
The woke progressives that dominate the UWS just simply cannot quit the lockdown. They crave an authoritarian government telling them what to do.
agreed! The leftists are a huge problem for America
You’ve got a boatload of Yankees testing positive even though they’d been vaccinated. Bill Maher, another vaccinatee (lol), just tested positive. Nothing seems settled. I will walk around outside mask-free but wear a mask in stores and I won’t be dining inside at restaurants–not yet.
Seven out of the eight vaccinated positive Yankees apparently are asymptomatic; they are tested 3x a day (!) and they are LIVING proof that vaccines work since they themselves are not seriously ill. Be a good community member. Help others. Get the shot.
Well said. Apparently being a good citizen is now optional for the MAGA crowd.
What is your point?
The vaccines are not 100% effective and never sold that way. But, they are all highly effective at providing everyone with protection against serious health effects and will also greatly reduce community spread of the virus.
Without the vaccine, you can guarantee that a lot more than 7 baseball team staffers would have gotten infected and I’m sure they would not have had mild symptoms.
Jay,
do you really think we need an experimental vaccine when we have Ivermectin and HCQ proven safe for decades?
How much do you really know about the Covid vaccines?
Take this quiz.
Let us all know how well you do.
https://covidvaccinequiz.org
Didn’t 8 fully vaccinated Yankee members just test positive?
The vaccines have proved to be remarkably effective, so I don’t have a problem not wearing a mask outdoors. There’s concern that unvaccinated people will not wear masks as things are relaxed (which would seem to make sense), so the question is, am I risking gettinmg sick by being maskless in the company of unvaccinated, unmasked people? I would still try to avoid being close to people who I don’t know have been vaccinated, and in situations like the subway or theaters, I would probably continue to wear a mask until such time as the infection rate is at a consistent safe level (for vaccinated people, at least). Of course, a wild card is the degree to which stores and other venues may require proof of vaccination to enter. But if half the people riding the subways and buses are unmasked, that’s going to scare many people away, at least initially. So I suspect that regulation will continue to be enforced.
Happy to continue wearing a mask, except when eating or drinking – which is mostly outdoors. Somehow I think we will be prepared if and when tourism brings the rates higher, as we wont have to relearn masking.IN Hamilton heights, many without masks, as opposed to UWS.
Because I believe in the science, I will happily return to a fully maskless lifestyle, or at least as close to it as possible. Sadly, it appears many in the neighborhood only choose to listen to the science when it perpetuates a narrative of fear. You are not at risk if fully vaccinated, go live your life. I haven’t worn a mask outdoors since two weeks after my J&J shot and I’ll happy ditch it indoors too at first opportunity.
Agreed. I was quick to follow CDC guidance when asked to wear a mask, and I will be quick to follow CDC guidance again and not wear a mask. Some people who still wear their mask will do so because they are afraid, and I’ll respect that, some people because they prefer it, and I’ll respect that, and some people because deep down they would actually prefer to stay in the pandemic « lifestyle » and not go back to work.
The CDC said folks who are fully vaccinated are at little risk for infection in any situation. If infected they will not be seriously ill. They won’t die. Once infected they produce fewer viruses and are a minimal risk to others. Those who are not immunized must mask and distance. Those who say they are vaccinated falsely are at risk to themself and others who don’t tell the truth, not to vaccinated people and of little risk to masked unvaccinated folks. Removing the mask is wonderful. However, without the mask, my spring allergies are worse. Oh, well.
an excerpt from the NYT:
When federal health officials said on Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans no longer needed to wear masks in most places, it came as a surprise to many people in public health. It also was a stark contrast with the views of a large majority of epidemiologists surveyed in the last two weeks by The New York Times.
In the informal survey, 80 percent said they thought Americans would need to wear masks in public indoor places for at least another year. Just 5 percent said people would no longer need to wear masks indoors by this summer.
In large crowds outdoors, like at a concert or protest, 88 percent of the epidemiologists said it was necessary even for fully vaccinated people to wear masks.
80% of epidemiologists surveyed said “everybody keep paying attention to me.” 20% said “my 15 minutes are up.”
Merely looking at photos of groups of people without masks make me nervous, so it’s going to take some intentional self-reprograming to stop wearing them.
When 95 degree heat returns to NYC, I might suddenly find it very easy to go without, but right now it would make me feel a little undressed.
100% would feel comfortable. The vaccine protects those vaccinated regardless of others who choose not not to be vaccinated – they are taking the very minor chance themselves that the virus which is no longer rampant will infect them at the very minor rate which will impact their health. Regardless non vaccinated people with no symptoms make it very very unlikely for any vaccinated people to get sick.
You bet your sweet asstroturf I’m going maskless (aka “normal”)
Given that there is no way to know who is or isn’t vaccinated, and even if a venue asks for proof, they won’t always get it or it could be forged, I will still wear a mask if I am indoors.
I want to see the actual numbers in all these studies that are now being used to say “Hey, no masks needed anywhere.”
Also, there is the issue of people still must wear on transportation. Some folks will now decide that this is “indoors” and no they don’t need.
The people who didn’t get vaccinated will be the first to NOT wear masks. They could care less about protecting others. Now, they will be free to continue to possibly spread the virus, especially if they are asymptomatic.
If people who have been fully vaccinated can get infected, even wearing masks, well, that should make one cautious about NOT wearing a mask indoors when, given NYC’s small interiors, you’ll be sharing space with those who aren’t vaccinated.
We’ve seen the violence that has erupted over the right to not wear a mask and be stopped. Imagine what will happen when a venue asks for proof and they won’t give it.
People talk about miniscule risk. That won’t matter if you get sick and the vaccine is not fully protecting you. As to the severity? Individual risk varies in ways that have not been fully documented.
I know about risk. I contracted a side-effect from cancer treatment that was put at something like .0034. But it changed my life forever and put me in a wheelchair. So miniscule means NOTHING if you are the exception.
Wearing a mask is not that big a deal. How long do you plan to stay indoors anyway?
Outdoors is fine if we’re not talking about crowds. And no more social distancing? Huge mistake. IMHO
Let’s see what happens this fall.
And we should continue to wear masks as needed, as they have done in Asia, for a long time, when we have colds, the flu, etc.
I hope that those who continue to wear masks will not be derided in public. The still-masked should include, according to Dr. Rochelle Wolensky in a PBS interview tonight, those who are at “high risk of disease” or have “underlying health conditions”. Under those two large umbrellas, she mentioned a handful of specific conditions, such as the immuno-compromised, those with cancer, undergoing chemo, and those recovering from organ transplants — in essence, it seems, all those under the umbrellas for whom “the vaccines may not be as protective.”
Wolensky also cautioned about the unpredictability of the virus.
May 14, 2021 “PBS Newshour” YouTube video, at 9:19 to 9:50.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzE9jhbF1iY
Thank you, Irena and Danielle! Risk level varies from person to person….and it depends on how tolerant you are of risk.
No parent ever wants to look back and say, “I should have protected my non-vaccinated child more” should their child be the 1 in the minuscule chance that gets seriously ill.
Wearing a mask still allows you to carry on with life – it’s not that big of an ask. It’s different from closing down shop and closing schools.
I haven’t seen anyone being made fun of for wearing a mask. I’ve only seen people without makes being stared down or yelled at by those wearing masks.
You are simply wrong.
I was out for lunch today and there were people who were openly deriding people for wearing masks.
This is right after lunch today when I was walking back – somewhere near 70th and Columbus.
Aren’t the Republicans supposed to bend libertarian? Why do you even care what I do or don’t do as long as it doesn’t affect you?
I’m rather young but even I read him the riot act but the real howler was this 70-ish year-old woman who gave him the “full New York treatment”.
Never let it be said that embarrassing someone where the entire crowd laughs at your stupidity doesn’t work.
So masks did matter after all, and will continue to represent a form of safety for more than a few. But will someone reading this please provide the names (any) NYC Health organizations that mandate their employees ( physicians, nurses et al) get vaccinated. Not aware of one.
Employers will not require their employees to be vaccinated until the vaccines receive full licensing from the FDA. Mandates under an emergency approval would be a legal bloodbath and anyone with half a brain (or knows how to read – which doesn’t seem to be many people these days) understands that.
The problem is that this guidance isn’t an incentive for reluctant people to get vaccinated. It’s an incentive to lie and say they already are.
Much like after 9/11, society is forever changed. There is no going back.
I feel like that poll should have included more detail/more options. I’m fully vaccinated and would be fine taking my mask off indoors so long as everyone else there is also vaccinated. However, even taking my mask off outside is a transition. I feel anxious–not because I’m scared that I’ll catch anything, but because I’m worried what others will think of me. It’s not like I’m wearing my vaccination card on my sleeve, afterall.
It’s very rare that you see an educated population this indifferent to their liberation, which can only mean that at some deep level they don’t really want to be liberated. That’s a worrisome thought.
That’s one way to over-generalize about your neighbors. Another could be that it’s a simple risk vs. inconvenience management in a global city reopening to tourism while a pandemic of mutating variants still rages in many parts of the world. Masks are no longer the inconvenience they once were to people. If wearing vs. not wearing one determines your sense of liberty…well, good luck to you.
Or, it is very sad that you see a misinformed population this indifferent to the health of their fellow citizens, which can only mean that at some deep level they don’t really want to be the crisis to end so that they can rail against it.
That’s a worrisome thought. But it gets great ratings for Fox News.
I would consider going maskless indoors now that I am vaccinated, but I have a feeling this will mean nothing for the short term of the UWS. Take a look around and you still see 90%+ wearing masks outdoors. Perhaps people are not fully vaccinated yet and this will change as we get deeper into May, but so far, it sure doesn’t seem like it. I’d at least welcome being maskless outdoors.
I am fully vaccinated and will continue to wear masks when indoors with unvaccinated folks. Simply out of consideration for their health and well being. And I don’t consider it be an inconvenience at all. There is too much drama and hype over mask wearing. If wearing a mask is the biggest challenge you’ve had to face in life, consider yourself very lucky.
If you have been eating out then you don’t need to wear a mask on the street.
Going out to eat and drink puts you at most risk.
I am afraid of people who are barefaced. Count me as one of those who will continue to wear masks, until Bernie Sanders is our President.
This relies on people being honest about whether or not they have been vaccinated. And, as we know, there is a subsection of people who have basically refused to wear masks throughout this entire pandemic. My assumption is that many of these people are not getting vaccinated, either, although they’d likely be more than happy (vindicated, even!) to sit down, mask-less, in a restaurant and not disclose their vaccination status (or lack thereof).
People really have to care about the larger community and about doing the right thing. If even a fraction of people don’t, this “trust system” will falter.
With 8 NY Mets fully vaccinated with the Trumo vaccine touted to be 95% effective, now testing positive for covid, it’s no time throw hard-won victories aside. One more death from this disease is one too many.
The truth is that the CDC is removing the mask mandate primarily for political reasons. They believe that doing so will help encourage the vaccine-reluctant to get vaccinated. Vaccines are not perfect, they cannot protect you 100%, especially if those around you are still unvaccinated or you are indoors/in a crowd. The CDC also knows this, but chose to make a risk-benefit call for the greater good (they hope). Finally, the jury is still very much out as to whether mild or asymptomatic transmissions that will occur will result in Long Covid. Going forward, people need to make their own decisions about the level of risk they are willing to tolerate.
This is an informative quiz which I failed- helpful facts: https://covidvaccinequiz.org/?fbclid=IwAR21QwalenrxVecVvTV83PF0XmyVlPI-Df2qjT8ttzY1YKksp3TFnX4rseA
To those who insist on continuing the masking: you can do whatever you want but are you aware what’s written on the box of the blue-ish artificial fiber masks that everyone is wearing: “Warning.: This product is an ear loop mask. This product is not a respirator and will not provide any protection against Covid-19 (Coronavirus). Or other viruses or contaminants.” These are also the same masks that police used to hand out in the parks or employees at the Mac store or on airplanes and in doctor’s offices. Why did we wear them again? It makes no sense if you take seriously what’s written on the box. I have a photo of it but can’t post it here but you can see for yourselves …
That’s a hilariously bad interpretation of a warning label.
Did you know that 95% of people who die in automobile accidents were wearing their seat belts? If seat belts are so great, why did they die? In fact, using your logic, one could argue that wearing a seatbelt is deadly.
Here’s what I’d like to know: how exactly does this virus spread? and what about its variants? Is it airborne, droplet borne, asymptomatic person borne, etc etc? Any virus is capable of remaining dormant until conditions are just right for it to live its life, so to speak, with you and any life form it requires, as its host. Without any real answers, I can only conclude that we are all still part of a Great Experiment, still in the throes of the “WE DON’T REALLY KNOW” factor. Hope will not get us ‘there’ (i.e., to that elusive concept of normalcy). Only real and FULL knowledge, which we currently lack–even with all the massive ongoing expert efforts to find out all we can and deal with this pandemic. I will don a mask judiciously, with respect for all. I don’t believe covid and its offspring are quite done with us. But, we shall see, won’t we? Meantime: I remain aware-full, not fearful.
It’s an airborne disease capable of being transmitted through aerosols. Same goes for the variants. That’s been known for months.
Also viruses do not live indefinitely outside of their hosts. They’re not like landmines lurking quietly, waiting to go off. Exposure to ultraviolet light, humidity and other elements degrades and deactivates viruses, often within hours of deposition on a surface.
Walking around the Upper West Side (80s to 115th) for the past two days, almost everyone is still wearing a mask. We may stop on a pier by the river and take it off when nobody is around, or take a distanced breather in Riverside Park without the damn thing, but for the most part it looks to me like this most highly vaccinated part of the city is still cautious. Me too.
This is just blatantly untrue. In the 70s and 80s this weekend I would say under 50% had a mask on outdoors. It’s a wonderful sight as there’s zero justification for outdoor masking. It’s been a remarkable shift over the last couple weeks, before which it was easily 80%+ with masks on outdoors.
What you describe is not caution; it’s paranoia. It’s like wearing a life vest in a wading pool.
I personally am happy to be done with masks, but will continue to wear one in more crowded or other circumstances where I feel my neighbors still prefer to be masked. I am influenced by my friend with stage 4 cancer who remains at risk and is very uncomfortable with the new CDC order.
Until recently, it was responsible behavior to wear a mask if one’s primary goal was to prevent their spreading the virus to others. At this point, with the vaccine readily available, I no longer feel that obligation. If others refuse to get vaccinated, their health concerns are not my problem. I shouldn’t have to curtail my lifestyle to accommodate those who created their own paranoia and ridiculous theories.
Except not everyone is eligible to get vaccinated yet, which is why I will still politely ask you to take the next elevator and wear a mask when I’m with my kids.
Who is not eligible? Are you referring to kids under 12, for whom covid already poses a trivial risk?
Hmm….this is the same CDC that told everyone that masks are not required for a RESPIRATORY virus at the beginning of the pandemic, right?
Bottom line is, we have not reached herd immunity yet, and everyone should still wear a mask in public enclosed spaces, vaccinated or not. In my opinion, the CDC pushed the “masks off” button too soon.
I am going without a mask outdoors per the CDC guidance. I wear one indoors as required (which is everywhere on the UWS). It’s good to breathe freely and get a little sunshine on my face after so long wearing a mask that has caused me to get sinus infections and styes (and, yes, I am very careful handling the mask, I do not touch my face, and I wash my masks with soap and water after each and every use). Fully vaccinated and without any styes or infections now that I do not wear a mask outdoors.
The “great” experiment has begun, and “we all” are the guinea pigs.
Follow the science. Look at the primary literature. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201130131511.htm Asymptomatic transmission is statistically zero. You can’t spread a disease you don’t have.
But I have a drawer full of masks that match my outfits — some dressy, some sporty, some just for fun — and some I haven’t even worn yet.
And masks promote equity. Good-looking people lose their structural privilege.
We should make mask wearing mandatory permanently. For the sake of justice and everybody’s safety.
Some people look better in masks, and some people don’t. I bet the desire to remain masked despite scientific evidence is highly related to that.
Yes! But don’t want to make others feel uncomfortable.
Prediction: Many of the vaccinated will soon lose their patience with those who are special and refuse. Wearing a mask inside of stores, restaurants, apartment buildings etc. will drag on for months and months only because of this ignorance or fear. Don’t believe me? Walk outside right now, it’s already happening… you can feel the loss
of freedom (breath) creating a sad division.
Have you taken the Covid vaccine quiz that’s gone viral. No pun intended. 🙂
I just took it and learned a lot.
http://www.CovidVaccineQuiz.org