This past year has taught us all how to make our own relative risk assessments. The CDC has changed that by saying vaccinated people don't need to wear a mask outdoors and only do so in a few places indoors. The change is an attempt to make the risk/reward ratio tradeoff more in favor of getting vaccinated.
Previously, being vaccinated meant you had a dramatically lower chance of a severe infection. You had lower risk. But, you still couldn't do that much cool stuff. In many parts there were still restrictions on activities. The reward, other than lower risk, wasn't that different than if you weren't vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated before: Lowered risk but Low reward in terms of how you can live
Now, getting vaccinated has more of a reward. You don't have to wear a mask in most settings. You can gather with more people. You can do more cool stuff.
Getting vaccinated now: Lowered risk and High reward in terms of how you can live
The intent of this change is the more attractive risk/reward ratio will motivate people to get vaccinated. Which should means fewer Americans unnecessarily die. Plus, there's enough Americans vaccinated now, in high risk groups especially, that there should be less burden on the healthcare system in the event of another outbreak.
On top of this, it will just make life better for the 42% of Americans who are vaccinated!
However, this guidance change has two problematic aspects.
The first is that everyone can't get vaccinated yet. Speaking for myself as a parent of two kids under 5, my activities with them really can't change much because I need to protect them. They can't get vaccinated yet (I am vaccinated). However, this change alienates other people who haven't gotten vaccinated yet either due to access (many latinos) or eligibility (kids).
The second is that this guidance is predicated on only vaccinated people not needing to wear a mask. But there is no national vaccine passport, so you can't really know who is vaccinated. Enforcing this differentiated guidance, based on vaccination status, is impossible. People who are unvaccinated, and possibly infected, can be behaving more risky and possibly creating more risk for those who haven't been vaccinated yet. And that increased behavioral risk will be effectively invisible because of a lack of knowledge of who is and isn't vaccinated.
My suspicion is the CDC is already aware of this. They wanted to create some momentum towards "normal" and they know there are tradeoffs.
American culture gives people the right to hurt themselves (see alcohol) as long as they don't hurt others (see smoking). Those who aren't vaccinated but want to do the same things as those who are vaccinated are taking more risk. But, for most, they have the choice to get vaccinated. The government has given most people the tools to be safe and protect themselves. If the unvaccinated don't want to get vaccinated, the government has likely accepted that it is those people's choice to take on more potential risk to themselves. Those who want to get vaccinated but can't yet, like my kids, will need to remain vigilant and hope for a shot soon.