Written by William Hale
Dr. Anthony Fauci has suggested that a booster shot may be required to achieve “fully-vaccinated” status. Today, a person is considered fully-vaccinated when they have received two doses of a Pfizer or Moderna shot, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The international scientific debate regarding the COVID vaccines remains ongoing, but the emergence of variants like Delta and Omicron have produced concerns over long-term decreases in vaccine efficacy, thus necessitating boosters. Predictably, this waning efficacy has challenged Fauci’s former requirement for the “fully-vaccinated” label.
“But there’s no doubt that optimum vaccination is with a booster” Fauci said in an interview with CNBC, “I mean, there is no doubt about that.” The definition of “fully-vaccinated” wasn’t the only term the Chief Medical Advisor hinted at changing this week; Fauci suggested that the word “Mandate” should be swapped with “Requirement” when discussing COVID vaccine regulation. “Mandates — that’s a radioactive word. Requirements people seem to respond better to that. They work,” said Fauci.
Whatever the term, having only been inoculated with two shots of Pfizer or Moderna may not be good enough for Fauci and his bureaucrats.
Perhaps surprisingly, this obsession with the semantics of COVID vaccines hasn’t come alongside much damage from Omicron, as the United States has yet to report a single death from the variant. Highly populated states like New York, Florida, California and Texas are all seeing a sharp increase in cases, but infection with Omicron seems to generate largely mild symptoms.
Photo Cred: Graeme Jennings, Associated Press
