what's the difference between 'up to date' and 'fully vaccinated'?
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as of jan. 28, 83.75 per cent of canadians have received at least one vaccine. getty
stay up to date on this topic
earlier this month, the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) announced that they would no longer refer to people as being “fully vaccinated” against covid. instead, the terminology used would be being “up to date” on covid vaccines.
“you are up to date with your covid-19 vaccines when you have followed the current recommendations,” the agency says on its website. “the recommendations will be different depending on your age, your health status, and when you first got vaccinated.”
the change signals that being safely inoculated against covid is not a permanent state, but actually a process that must be regularly maintained.
canada has begun using this terminology as well, but health authorities who use the term “fully vaccinated” don’t officially mean “received a booster” — at least not yet, according to chief public health officer dr. theresa tam.
“we all know that it is very important to get the booster dose, particularly in the time of omicron. so we’ve [started] to switch terminologies now to the concept of being up to date,” tam said at a press conference on jan. 21. “but that has not been built into the definition for administrative purposes of whether you can enter a certain space or go to a certain task or indeed for international travel. that has not changed.”
and though that’s the latest word on the issue, a representative from health canada confirmed to healthing on jan. 27, tam said this may change as officials re-examine those policies going forward.
‘fully vaccinated’ still means two doses in ontario
on a provincial level, ontario businesses are re-opening this week to “fully vaccinated” patrons. that still means two doses, as the vaccine certification program was put into place before booster shots were widely available. at the time, before omicron hit, two doses offered significant protection against contracting the virus.
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some experts, like infectious diseases physician and member of ontario’s science advisory table dr. gerald evans, think the vaccine certificate definitions should be re-defined to include boosters.
“i think there’s a lot of us who, understanding vaccine science and looking at how we deal with other kinds of vaccines for various infectious diseases, have really said this is probably a three-dose vaccine,” he told the canadian press.
while ontario’s opposition parties are calling for such a re-definition, the province’s premier doug ford said that wouldn’t happen — at least “not right at this point.”
how we talk about other vaccines
if vaccine mandates eventually require people to be “up to date” with vaccines, rather than “fully vaccinated,” that would be in line with how we talk about other vaccines, science communicator dr. krishana sankar told healthing. several other common vaccines require regular boosters, as well.
“for example, you have to get your mmr [measles, mumps and rubella] vaccine,” sankar said. “you’ve gotten all your shots, but of course there are boosters, so usually we say you’re up to date when you’ve got your latest booster shot. that sort of terminology has already been there. that won’t change just because we’re now talking about whether you’re fully vaccinated or you’re up to date with your covid vaccine.”
as of jan. 28, 83.75 per cent of canadians have received at least one vaccine.
maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com
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