Federal health officials are reportedly considering changing the definition of “fully vaccinated” to only individuals who have received a booster shot in addition to their original COVID-19 vaccination.
According to the New York Times, as the new Omicron variant has led to record high cases of COVID-19, “some experts think the moment for change has arrived.”
“I think the time is now,” Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, told the New York Times. He added that he believes receiving an additional booster dose “is really what we should be thinking of as fully vaccinated.”
However, as the New York Times explained, “Redefining ‘fully vaccinated’ could lead to enormous logistical challenges, as even supporters of the idea concede, and it is likely to incite political backlash. Tens of millions of Americans who thought of themselves as vaccinated might discover that without boosters, they could lose access to restaurants, offices, concerts, events, gatherings — any place where proof of vaccination is required to enter.”
The outlet noted that the change would further undermine “trust in public health officials after two years of shifting recommendations, experts said. Some Americans may feel that the goal posts have been moved again, and too suddenly.”
The change would also leave about 140 million vaccinated Americans who have not received a booster “in limbo about where they stand and what they are eligible to do.”
“Many schools, businesses, governments and other institutions have relied on the C.D.C.’s definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ to establish mandates, requiring people to complete their primary vaccine series in order to attend school, dine out or remain employed,” the New York Times noted.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering getting rid of the term completely and using the standard of “up-to-date” vaccinations, which would allow for the vaccination requirements to be more easily changed.
Dr. Philip R. Krause, a former top vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration who retired last month, told the New York Times that efforts to redefine full vaccination a “distraction” from other public health priorities. Krause pointed out that large vaccine efficacy studies, and the C.D.C.’s own data, show two doses protect strongly against severe cases of COVID-19.
“The place where the risk is highest — among the elderly, the immunocompromised, people with comorbidities — those are the people accounting for almost all of the severe disease among the vaccinated,” Krause said. “We should be concentrating on finding those people.”
