If you still say you’re “fully vaccinated” for Covid, it’s time to stop.
With new boosters on the market and an ever-evolving virus, experts say the term no longer means the most protected you can be. He points out two far more appropriate alternatives for doing so: being “up-to-date” with the Covid vaccine, or simply indicating whether you’ve gotten the latest booster shots.
“I would certainly say that we should stop using it and put it aside completely. ‘Fully vaccinated’ is not the word we want to use. Cindy PrinceAn epidemiologist at the University of Florida told CNBC Make It.
The definition of full vaccination has not changed since the first Covid vaccine was deployed almost two years ago. This means the first two doses of a vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna, or Novavax, or one dose from Johnson & Johnson. is.
Here’s why experts say you shouldn’t use the term anymore, and what you should do instead.
What’s wrong with saying “fully vaccinated”?
“Fully vaccinated” originally meant that most people who hadn’t had the J&J vaccine would need two doses instead of one to be fully protected against Covid in late 2020 and early 2021. It was an easy way to remind them of their need, Prince says.
But Covid has changed a lot since then, and so has what it means to be fully protected.
Last year, the emergence of new variants such as Delta and Omicron encouraged new infections and reinfections among fully vaccinated Americans. It became clear that a booster dose was necessary to prevent serious consequences due to
Simply put, being fully vaccinated does not give you full protection against Covid. Even if you recently finished the primary series, you’ll increasingly see Omicron’s BA.5 sub-variant of him and other sub-lineages. Good at dodging protection Derived from the original mRNA vaccine.
What should I say instead?
Say you’re “up to date” about Covid vaccines, Prins recommends. This means that you are most protected in the moment.
Vocabulary changes can affect how you communicate with people around you. For example, you should make sure your loved ones are “up to date” on vaccines before coming to a gathering you’re hosting, says Prins.
This phrase risks feeling jargon. Susan Hasig, associate professor of epidemiology at Tulane University. “There’s an assumption that when people ask if they’re up to date, they have a shared understanding of what that means, but that may not be the case,” she says.
Hassig points out a more “functional question” that you can ask instead. Got a new booster?
“It would be good if they didn’t know what you were asking. [up-to-date] I mean,” she says.
You can always educate those around you on what “latest” means, Prince points out. That may include knowing the eligibility guidelines for various Covid shots and finding ways to “respectfully” ask friends and family if they meet their dose requirements.
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