According to a recent report from a USA Today affiliate, CDC director Rochelle Walensky announced significant language changes at the agency. Walensky said while the agency does not intend to change the definition of ‘fully vaccinated,’ Americans are not considered ‘up to date’ on their vaccines unless they’ve received at least one booster dose.
The CDC director during the briefing invoked the new rhetoric, which she claims does not change the definition but instead encourages individuals to stay ‘up to date’ on their coronavirus shots.
The comments conflict with an earlier statement from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said recently that changing the definition of fully vaccinated to include booster shots is a matter of “when, not if.”
“What we really are working to do is pivot the language to make sure that everybody is as up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines as they personally could be – should be – based on when they got their last vaccine,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at the press briefing.
“If you are eligible for a booster and you haven’t gotten it, you’re not up to date and you need to get your booster in order to be up to date.”
The shift follows the FDA Advisory Committee voting overwhelmingly against a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for individuals 16 years and older in a 16 to 2 vote.
Following the FDA’s vote against booster vaccinations for most Americans, White House chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci insisted that this was “not the end of the story”, two days after the scientific panel appeared to turn the Biden administration’s plan on its head.
Fauci’s prediction appears to be prescient, as millions of Americans have already received either an unauthorized booster dose or are proceeding to get their booster to keep ‘up to date’ as the CDC now recommends.
