Forbes - Redefining fully vaccinated

Plus: Covid cancellations for college basketball

Redefining what it means to be fully vaccinated “certainly is on the table and open for discussion” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday, as the omicron variant sweeps the U.S. Up to this point, two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson was considered “fully vaccinated,” while a third dose was considered a “booster.” But as the federal government collects more data, it’s possible that three doses will be considered necessary to reach full vaccination. Fauci added he is unsure if or when a change would be made. Yesterday, the CDC also recommended that Moderna and Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccines should be preferred over Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose shot, citing the higher incidence of blood clots (while acknowledging it’s still a rare occurrence). The World Health Organization granted emergency authorization for a less expensive and easier-to-distribute Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Novavax on Friday. It paves the way for the vaccine to be distributed through the Covax program, the United Nations-backed vaccine-sharing initiative.

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More Covid News

Airline CEOs told Congress that air quality on planes was good enough to not require passengers to mask against Covid, but the president of the flight attendants union and public health experts all pushed back against this claim. 

Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday they have asked the FDA to fully approve their Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 12 to 15.

The NFL announced that it’s tightening protocols to prevent the spread of Covid while speeding up the process for vaccinated players who recovered from the disease to return to the game. The League is delaying three games until next week due to Covid-19 among teams. 

South Africa's omicron peak is declining, while the U.K. set its highest case record for a third day in a row.

What Else We Are Reading

• After ‘Truly Appalling’ Death Toll in Nursing Homes, California Rethinks Their Funding (Kaiser Health News)

• Covid’s deadly trade-offs, by the numbers: How each state has fared in the pandemic (POLITICO)

• I Canceled My Birthday Party Because of Omicron (The Atlantic)