Top virologist Dr. Fauci with urgent warning to all vaccinated – here’s what you need to watch out for urgently


Dr. Fauci just issued this new warning to fully vaccinated people! The Omicron variant changes things, even for those who have received the COVID vaccine – you need to pay urgent attention to this now!

The Omicron variant has turned the pandemic on its head. Cases are on the rise again in the U.S. and in Europe as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), high levels of virus transmission are currently being observed in almost all parts of the country. This massive increase is due to the variant, which the agency estimates is currently responsible for more than 95 percent of new infections in the country. In addition, Omicron has shown an increased ability to evade the immune protection of vaccines, meaning that it is not just unvaccinated individuals who are vulnerable to infection. While the 206 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S. are still largely protected from serious illness, they should be on high alert as Omicron continues to spread.

This matters now!

During a National Institutes of Health (NIH) lecture on January 4, Anthony Fauci, MD, top COVID advisor to the White House and director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), spoke about the changing virus and how it affects vaccinated people. According to Fauci, the language about what it means to be fully vaccinated against COVID is evolving now that the Omicron variant is in circulation.
“We’re now using the terminology ‘booster vaccination’ rather than the meaning of ‘fully vaccinated,'” Fauci said. “Right now, the optimal protection is a third vaccination with mRNA or a second vaccination with J&J.”

Rebooster increases protection!

All three vaccine manufacturers have said their booster shots increase protection against the new variant. According to initial research, Pfizer’s booster vaccine increases the number of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron by 25-fold, Moderna’s by 37-fold, and two doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine reduced hospitalizations in South Africa — where Omicron first appeared — by 85 percent.

Although virus experts and manufacturers tout booster shots as optimal protection against the Omicron variant, only 34 percent of fully vaccinated people in the U.S. who are eligible for additional vaccination have received it, according to the CDC.

New guidelines

The CDC has not yet changed its definition of “fully vaccinated,” however. Under the agency’s latest guidelines, updated Jan. 5, it is recommended that everyone 5 years and older receive a primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine to be considered fully vaccinated. A primary vaccination does not currently include a booster, according to the CDC.

“As far as the definition of ‘fully vaccinated,’ the definition currently is two doses of mRNA vaccine or a single dose of J&J vaccine,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said during a White House briefing on Dec. 15. “We continue to pursue this science and it continues to evolve literally every day. And as that science evolves, we’ll continue to review the data and update our recommendations as appropriate.”

Still, the agency has taken important steps recently to acknowledge the importance of booster shots. On Jan. 4, the CDC recommended that the third vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine be given five months after the second dose, which is shorter than the original six-month period the agency recommended when it first recommended booster shots.

On Dec. 27, the agency updated its quarantine and isolation guidelines to state that persons 18 years of age or older who have been in close contact with a person who has COVID no longer need to be quarantined if they have received all recommended vaccine doses, including booster shots. If you have not received this additional vaccination, you should stay home and away from other people for at least five days after your last contact with an infected person, according to the CDC.

Unconditionally Boosters

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“Our CDC guidelines clearly say that people should get the booster vaccine when they are able. That’s partly because immunity is waning and partly because we need more protection against Omicron,” Walensky said at a White House press briefing on Dec. 29.

Referring to people who have received only the first or second dose of the COVID vaccine, she added, “We know that while they have some protection from serious illness and death, the protection from infection wears off quite a bit. And since these are quarantine guidelines, we really wanted to put these measures in place because the protection from infection has declined quite a bit.”

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