Dr. Fauci clarifies that ‘fully vaccinated’ does not have to include booster shots

Dr. Anthony Fauci said booster shots are not necessary to be considered “fully vaccinated”.

Fauci, the Chief White House Medical Advisor, went on ABC’s This Week where he spoke with Martha Raddatz about the Covid-19 vaccine and boosters. This clarification comes after the governors of Connecticut and New Mexico declared that only individuals with their booster shot were fully vaccinated.

Raddatz asked Fauci why the White House hadn’t changed the definition of fully vaccinated to mean having a booster shot. Fauci responded that the definition of fully vaccinated currently means someone who has received their first two Pfizer or Moderna shots or the one Johnson & Johnson shot. At the end of last week, 59% of qualified Americans were fully vaccinated.

Fauci encouraged people to follow the science and the data. “Now that you look at the data as it’s evolved in the United States, it’s very clear,” Fauci told Raddatz. “They wanted to make sure that the safety signals were right, and once that became very clear, right now I’m very pleased that we’re in a situation where there’s no confusion, there’s no lack of clarity.”

The Pfizer CEO recently said that boosters may be needed yearly going forward. Fauci responded to this claim on the show, where he said that the goal of the boosters was to increase “durability” so that people wouldn’t need yearly booster shots long term.