Effective

Question

hiWhat does 'effective' mean in:"A U.S. government study of an experimental HIV vaccine has been halted effective immediately,..."?Thanks in advance

Clive · Accepted Answer

It was halted now. Not 20 minutes from now. Not two hours from now. Not tomorrow. Not next week.

Consider
eg Tom is the new Sales Manager, effective immediately.
eg Mary will be the new Production Manager, effective next Monday.

Clive

Soheil1 · Answer

you mean it means 'exactly'?

Blue Jay · Answer

Not quite. More like "Starting right now".

Soheil1 · Answer

So, 'effective immediately' mean 'right now'?

Blue Jay · Answer

soheil1So, 'effective immediately' mean 'right now'?

Not exactly. Starting right now conveys the meaning, but by itself right now does not.
Right now means at this moment. Used by itself (without the starting, or some other action) it describes the situation as it exists at present, but often suggests that change is possible, or even likely. The timescale of this change would depend on the context.
Right now I am writing a reply to soheil1 on EnglishForward. (In a minute I shall post it and do something else)
It may describe a situation that has existed for some time and will continue for a while.
Right now Barack Obama is President of the United States. (He has been President for four years and in four years a new President will be chosen)
Right now the study is halted would suggest it is very possible that the study will be restarted.
The sense of effective immediately is that this is a change that takes place at once, with no delay, no gradual changeover, no further discussion, no plans at this time to do something different later. It is a very forceful statement. This is an order. Do this at once.

Effective

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