The widening of booster shot eligibility in the U.S. to all adults and House Democrats’ passage of a massive social spending and climate bill, …
The widening of booster shot eligibility in the U.S. to all adults and House Democrats’ passage of a massive social spending and climate bill, which will now progress to the Senate, are expected to dominate this week’s Sunday show circuit. On Friday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky signed off on a CDC advisory panel’s recommendation that every American over the age of 18 be made eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster shot. Effective immediately, boosters were made available to adults six months after they receive their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines — a condition already met by tens of millions of people. The CDC’s advisory panel, which made the recommendation earlier on Friday, also specifically recommended that all people over 50 years old receive a booster shot. Walensky’s sign-off followed confusion regarding who was eligible to receive a booster shot. Previously, Americans could only get boosters if they fit certain categories. People with an underlying medical condition, aged 65 years and up or considered high risk for contracting COVID-19 based on where they live or work were all previously eligibility. Over time, however, certain states started to open up eligibility for all adults, pushing ahead of federal guidance. Now the CDC has caught up with those actions. « Booster shots have demonstrated the ability to safely increase people’s protection against infection and severe outcomes and are an important public health tool to strengthen our defenses against the virus as we enter the winter holidays,” Walenksy said in a statement upon signing off on the eligibility expansion. “Based on the compelling evidence, all adults over 18 should now have equitable access to a COVID-19 booster dose.
