WASHINGTON - New mask guidance for vaccinated individuals does not grant permission for widespread removal of masks, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Sunday.

"If they're vaccinated, they are safe. If they are not vaccinated, they are not safe. They should still be wearing a mask or better yet, get vaccinated," she told "This Week," a flagship program of the national broadcaster ABC.

MOMENT TO MULL

Walensky and other US health officials have stressed that their guidance is up to individuals to follow and if vaccinated people wish to continue wearing their masks they can.

"We wanted to deliver the science of the individual level, but we also understand that these decisions have to be made at the community's level," she said.

"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing," Walensky told a White House briefing on Thursday. "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," she added.

Since the new mask guidance was announced, many states, local governments and businesses have updated their mask ordinances based on the CDC's recommendation that vaccinated individuals can be maskless indoors, outdoors or in large crowds. The guidelines still call for masks to be worn on public transportation and in homeless shelters, hospitals and prisons.

Some states, including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New York, are keeping their universal mask mandates intact.