On Sept. 4 2023, Fox News and other media outlets reported that first lady Jill Biden not only tested positive for COVID-19 a second time since the pandemic's start in 2020, but also that she was "double-vaccinated and boosted twice":
Each of these assertions is true. A Sept. 4, 2023, statement attributed to the first lady's office read:
This evening, the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19. She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
That was, indeed, Biden's second time catching COVID. In August 2022, she also contracted the disease. At that time, Biden's communication director, Elizabeth Alexander, confirmed in statement she was "double vaccinated and twice boosted" — which meant she had received a two-dose initial vaccination series, as well as two additional booster doses, that aim to fight the virus.
When it comes to preventing new infections, COVID-19 vaccines have waned in effectiveness since the early months of the pandemic. That said, they remain effective at reducing serious illness and death; public health agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), still recommend them for those reasons.
Following the first lady's positive test in early September, U.S. President Joe Biden also tested for the virus, but his results were negative, The Associated Press reported.