NY governor plans to add booster shot to definition of ‘fully vaccinated’

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced during a press conference on Thursday that she is planning to introduce legislation that includes a booster shot within the definition of being “fully vaccinated.”

While the Democratic governor noted that the legislation needed to be more fleshed out and required more data to be collected, she signaled the change would happen eventually, saying that “at some point, we have to determine that fully vaccinated means boosted as well,” CNY Central reported.

Hochul’s remarks come as the country begins to see an uptick of COVID-19 cases again and as health officials grapple with the spread of the omicron variant, which President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci warned on Thursday would likely be the dominant strain in “a few weeks.”

Fauci also signaled that the omicron variant could have serious implications on hospitals, which could see a strain of resources.

“Besides the toll of suffering and death which will inevitably go up if in fact we have that convergence in the winter months of flu and omicron and delta, we could get our hospital systems overwhelmed,” Fauci said.

The government’s top infectious disease expert said he was more concerned about Americans who remain unvaccinated, reassuring the public that people who have already received the vaccines and boosters would be “relatively well protected, at least against severe disease.”

Fauci said earlier this month that it “it’s going to be a matter of when, not if” the definition of being “fully vaccinated” changes, but he noted that the change likely was not going to happen right away.