Coronavirus CT: 3 Jabs To Be 'Fully Vaccinated'? Fauci Weighs In

CONNECTICUT — So you've gotten your couple of COVID-19 vaccination doses and you're feeling pretty good about yourself, thinking you are what the health officials like to call "fully vaccinated"?

You might have to rethink that.

Top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci told Reuters he may be officially moving that goal post.

"Right now, officially, fully vaccinated equals two shots of the mRNA and one shot of the J&J, but without a doubt that could change," Fauci told the news agency Tuesday.

The pivot would come following the jump in U.S. infections over the past six weeks, a trend that has been particularly noticeable in Connecticut and neighboring New England and northeastern states.

Fauci told Reuters the "overwhelming majority" of Americans who have been fully vaccinated should now receive a booster shot. New data shows the third jabs provide "substantial" protection above what has been previously regarded as "fully vaccinated."

Connecticut Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said the situation is primed to get worse, quickly. She told reporters the number of COVID-19 cases in states even as highly vaccinated as Connecticut would likely grow as "respiratory viruses circulate more in the winter."

The spike in infections is prompting state health officials to expedite the rollout of additional clinics, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday. This holiday season, residents will be able to get COVID-19 vaccination booster shots at Bradley Airport, the New Haven and Stamford Metro-North stations, as well as over 960 other locations, including 417 school-based clinics, across the state.

Health officials are also making a "special effort" to bring clinics to nursing homes and long-term care facilities where the highest concentration of the most COVID-19-susceptible population can be found.

After spiking to a 13-week high on Tuesday, the daily Connecticut COVID-19 positivity rate dropped nearly a point overnight.

In the latest numbers released Wednesday afternoon by the state Department of Public Health, another 841 cases of the coronavirus were confirmed. With 22,613 tests taken, Connecticut's daily coronavirus positivity rate is 3.72 percent.

Hospitalizations rose by 18 beds overnight. Three hundred patients are currently hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19; of those 218 ( 72.7 percent) are not fully vaccinated.

Most of those hospitalized (92) are in New Haven County.

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DPH reported another 31 coronavirus-associated deaths this week, bringing the total for the pandemic to 8,865.