Mask mandate eased
New COVID-19 cases are falling, according to CDC numbers, and the agency said on Tuesday that residents vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks outdoors, as long as they are not at crowded events.
But vaccine hesitancy is becoming a greater barrier to the country's inoculation campaign.
In Florida, a private school is barring teachers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 from coming into contact with students, arguing against all evidence that the educators pose a health risk.
Critics have held up the move by the Centner Academy as a particularly glaring example of the dangers of misinformation as the U.S. works to get its population inoculated.
In an email to parents on Monday, co-founder Leila Centner wrote that vaccinated people "may be transmitting something from their bodies" that could harm others, in particular the "reproductive systems, fertility, and normal growth and development in women and children".
The school urged faculty and staff who have not yet been vaccinated to wait until the end of the school year to do so, saying they should hold off "until there is further research available on whether this experimental drug is impacting unvaccinated individuals".
The claims, which have been circulating on social media, have previously been debunked by experts and fact-checkers.
"There's no evidence to suggest that vaccination will cause a person to shed the SARS-CoV-2 virus," said Jamie Scott, professor emeritus and former research professor of molecular immunity at Simon Fraser University in Canada.
