White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration would be on board, when, not if, the Centers for Disease Control amends the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ to include booster shots.
This decision would effectively render tens of millions of Americans unvaccinated. Currently, 202 million Americans are fully vaccinated according to CDC data. Only 42 million have received their COVID-19 booster shot, leaving 150 million Americans instantly classified as “unvaccinated”.
“The CDC has not changed their evaluation of what being fully vaccinated means,” Psaki said, adding that could change at any time. “Dr. Fauci has said it’s not a matter of if, but when and then obviously base any of our policies from the federal government on the CDC guidance, so that would be the first step if and when they were to change that.”
If you have received your dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine or two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, you might think you’re fully vaccinated. Think again. For now, the definition of fully vaccinated means the complete regimen of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, but soon, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts, that is going to change.
Fauci hinted that the goalpost of fully vaccinated will soon be moving to include booster shots. For now, the first booster shot, but Fauci has also said further boosters will be necessary in the future.
When ask if it’s a matter of when, not if, Fauci agreed, that at some point in the near future, booster shots will be part of the ‘fully vaccinated’ regimen for Americans.
That means, in cities such as New York that require vaccinations for things like going out to dinner, or the movies, you will once again be locked out of those activities for being unvaccinated.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN that his opinion is that the definition will change, but as everyone knows, the doctor has the full attention of the Centers for Disease Control and even the U.S. White House that would empower him to make that determination.