Am I still fully vaccinated? Boosted shot confuses the answer

(NEXSTAR) – “Is it time to redefine ‘fully vaccinated’ as 3 shots?” journalist Dan Rather recently asked in an open question to the Twitterverse.

“Absolutely possible,” replied Dr. Bob Wachter, chief of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “If you’re out for 6 months and not reinforced, you’re somewhere between protected and unprotected.”

“Yes. Quite possible,” agrees Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and former Harvard researcher.

Urging people to get booster injections against COVID-19 last month, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said, “In my view, if you were vaccinated more than six months ago, you are not fully vaccinated.”

But the Centers for Disease Control did not change its definition. The agency still defines someone as fully vaccinated if it has been two weeks since they received their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or two weeks since they received a dose of Johnson & Johnson. At the same time, the CDC is urging all adults to get a booster shot when they are eligible.

“We strongly recommend those who qualify for a booster six months after those doses of mRNA to get your boost,” says CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky during a White House briefing last week. “But we’re not changing the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ right now.”

The mixed message – that you are considered “fully vaccinated” without a booster, but you should still get a booster – is admittedly confusing. To complicate matters, children are not yet eligible for booster shots, so any change in the CDC’s definition of “fully vaccinated” would need to have separate criteria for those people under 18 years old.

Australia is consider changing its definition of “fully vaccinated” Guardian reported. In the US, even the most stringent regulations on vaccines, such as in the US Los Angeles or New York, still only requires two Pfizer or Moderna shots or one J&J shot to do things like dine in or attend concerts. That, of course, could change.

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, is open to changing the definition of full immunization if necessary.

“We’re going to continue to track the data, because right now as we push people, what we’re doing is tracking them,” Fauci said in a statement. Interview with ABC. “We’ll see how durable that protection is, and as we always do, you just have to go and let the data guide your policy and let the data guide your recommendations. “.