A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) panel on Thursday unanimously recommended COVID-19 vaccine boosters for several huge populations, including those 65 and …
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) panel on Thursday unanimously recommended COVID-19 vaccine boosters for several huge populations, including those 65 and older, though members voted down another recommendation. Panel members unanimously recommended a single Pfizer booster for people aged 65 and older and long-term care facility residents of any age above 18. They also overwhelmingly voted for a booster for people between the ages of 50 and 64 who have underlying medical conditions like cancer. The panel was torn, though, on whether to recommend boosters for 18- to 49-year-olds “based on individual benefit and risk” who have an underlying medical condition. Some members questioned recommending boosters for people as young as 18, based on the side effects for boosters, including heart inflammation, not being known at this time, according to CDC officials. The panel had also heard during presentations that the vaccines are holding up well against both hospitalization and death in younger age groups, making the risk-benefit calculus murkier. While 481 among the 65 and older group need a booster to prevent a single hospitalization, over 8,700 people between 18 and 29 would need to get a booster to prevent a single hospitalization, one CDC presenter said. Still, the panel ultimately passed the recommendation 9–6. A fourth motion, however, was voted down 9–6. The vote came one day after the Food and Drug Administration expanded emergency use authorization for the Pfizer jab, which was developed with the German firm BioNTech.
