As Omicron spreads, officials ponder what it means to be 'fully vaccinated'

Goldman Sachs and Jeffries, the investment banks, are demanding that employees get booster shots. The University of Oregon and other institutions are requiring that students and staff members get boosters. New York State said it plans to stop considering residents fully vaccinated unless they’ve gotten the shots.

As the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads from coast to coast, corporations, schools, governments and even sports leagues are reconsidering what it means to be “fully vaccinated.”

Now federal health officials, too, have taken on the question. Although top policymakers want to encourage Americans to get three doses, some would like to avoid changing the definition of a phrase that has become pivotal to daily life in much of the country, according to officials.

Dr Rochelle P Walensky, the CDC director, said that she and other health officials were “working through that question” now. “CDC is crystal-clear on what people should do: If they’re eligible for a boost, they should get boosted.”

With Omicron’s sharp rise — some experts think the moment for change has arrived. “I think the time is now,” said Dr Georges C Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association. From a medical perspective, he said, receiving that additional booster dose “is really what we should be thinking of as fully vaccinated.”

Redefining “fully vaccinated” could lead to enormous logistical challenges, as even supporters of the idea concede, and it is likely to incite political backlash. Tens of millions of Americans who thought of themselves as vaccinated might discover that without boosters, they could lose access to restaurants, offices, concerts, events, gatherings — any place where proof of vaccination is required to enter.