The federal government's definition of "fully vaccineed" wouldn't change immediately, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci told Martha that she should go with the science.
He said that the data suggests that the current guidelines for vaccination should be maintained. A person in the US is considered to have completed their vaccine if they received one shot of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine or two doses of Moderna and Pfizer's vaccine.
Fauci said that health officials were watching people who received booster shots to see if they were still protected.
Fauci, the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said that they follow and let the data guide their policy and recommendations.
This Week is on November 21, 2021.
The US Food and Drug Administration last week expanded its emergency authorization for booster shot eligibility, making all adults eligible to receive them after previously allowing them for older and at-risk populations.
Some state leaders have suggested that the definition of fully-vaccinated has changed to include a booster dose.
Allowing the use of a single booster dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 18 years of age and older helps to provide continued protection against COVID-19, including the serious consequences that can occur, such as hospitalization and death," said Dr.
The FDA said that adults who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can get an additional dose two months later. The booster dose can be given to adults six months after they are fully vaccine free. People under the age of 18 can't get booster shots.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over half of the people in the US have been fully vaccineed against COVID-19. According to the CDC, 17.6% of the US population has received a booster shot.
