Health
December 10, 2021
Leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that changing the definition of fully vaccinated to include booster shots is a matter of “when, not if.”
“I don’t see that changing tomorrow or next week, but certainly if you want to talk about what optimal protection is, I don’t think anybody would argue that optimal protection is going to be with a third shot,” Fauci said on CNN.
But according to Fauci, the term fully vaccinated is merely a “technical, almost semantic definition,” calling it a description of requirements related to things such as attending classes or working in a workplace.
“For me, as a public health person, I just say get your third shot – forget about what the definition is. I just want to see people be optimally protected.”
Fauci’s comment comes amid an emerging debate over what is considered fully vaccinated. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer reported on Wednesday that three doses of its coronavirus vaccine may offer significant protection against the omicron variant, while just two doses of the vaccine see a large drop in antibody levels against the strain. That led the company’s chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten to say that being fully vaccinated should include three doses of a vaccine to cover omicron.
“Go get your third boost and you’ll have a robust, quite impressive antibody response,” Dolsten said. “It’s really time to get the third boost, and you should be very encouraged by this morning’s news.”
The leaders join a growing number of officials who have called for additional doses of a coronavirus vaccine to be a necessary criteria for being considered fully vaccinated – a development that began just days after federal regulatory agencies made boosters available to the general adult population and one that could mark a first step in making them as mandatory as the vaccine itself.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last month said she believes a booster should be required to be considered fully vaccinated after announcing that the state would make all adults eligible for an additional shot ahead of the federal government’s recommendation.
“We know vaccinations are the most effective tool to both blunting the spread of the virus and to protecting ourself and our families,” she said. “So we are analyzing what we can do to create those incentives – and potentially mandates – for making sure that people are fully vaccinated, which means three vaccines.”
In Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont said he believes booster shots are needed to qualify a person as fully vaccinated and likewise opened up eligibility to all adults for the additional doses ahead of federal approval.
“From my point of view, if you were vaccinated more than six months ago, you’re not fully vaccinated,” Lamont said.
At present, federal regulatory agencies consider full vaccination to be two doses of Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccine or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But as immunity to the coronavirus threatens to wane months after individuals concluded their initial vaccination regimen and as the general adult population is now eligible for a booster, that understanding may evolve.
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb last month said he thinks boosters will be required to be considered fully vaccinated – but not this year.
“I think eventually this will be considered the three-dose vaccine, but I would be hard-pressed to believe CDC is going to make that recommendation any time soon,” Gottlieb told the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
But Gottlieb added that some local communities or businesses may begin to say individuals need a booster to be considered fully vaccinated, even if that’s not the federal stance.
When the conversation began last month in the days following the authorization of boosters for all adults, Fauci said that, at the time being, the data supported maintaining the current vaccination guidelines, with a two-dose regimen equating to being fully vaccinated. He also noted that officials would continue to follow the emerging science around the virus and public health.
“We’ll continue to follow the data, because right now when we’re boosting people, what we’re doing is following them,” Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “We’re going to see what the durability of that protection is, and as we always do, you just follow and let the data guide your policy and let the data guide your recommendations.”
