The CDC Director said that just being vaccine with two doses may not be enough for the holiday season because of the omicron variant of the coronaviruses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking at its definition of fully vaccineed, according to CNBC. The agency defines full vaccination as two weeks after the second dose of one of the two-shot vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer or two weeks after the one-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
According to data so far, Walensky said that vaccines may not prevent infections. She said that people need to wear their masks to prevent infections.
Omicron is the dominant variant in the U.S. Walensky said that based on omicron's growth rate she anticipated that number would be high.
The CDC director said that there have been deaths from omicron, but that they have been less than for other versions.
According to Walensky, those who are boosted are 20 times less likely to die than the unvaccinated population. Moderna said its booster shot is effective against omicron, but it still plans to create a new variant-specific shot.
Walensky recommended that families that are gathering to get tested to make sure that they don't have an infectious disease.
