Now that the top U.S. health regulators have delivered their verdict on COVID-19 booster shots, who exactly is in line to get one in the coming weeks? Sadly, too many of the wrong people and too few of the right ones, adding more messiness to a rollout process that’s been far from smooth.
The Biden Administration already jumped the gun on boosters last month, calling for third shots for all adults ahead of evaluation from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and before agencies could review data on any shot except the one made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE.
Both agencies weighed in this week, with external advisers raising doubts about the need for universal boosters when protection against severe disease is largely holding up. The result, however, was an authorization so broad — it effectively could encompass everyone older than 18 at higher risk because of their job or a health issue — that any adult that got Pfizer's vaccine can likely get a third shot six months after their second if they’re willing to lie. At the same time, millions of Americans 65 and older can't get another shot if they received a different vaccine.