Colorado opens COVID-19 boosters to all adults, but CDC director is reportedly iffy on national approval


Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) issued an executive order Thursday opening COVID-19 booster shots to all vaccinated adults, saying that because "disease spread is so significant across Colorado, all Coloradans who are 18 years of age and older are at high risk and qualify for a booster shot." Under current federal guidelines, all adult Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients can get a booster, but only those 65 and older or at high risk due to medical conditions or exposure at work are eligible for a third Pfizer or Moderna shot.
Most top health officials in the Biden administration — including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, top medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, and chief White House coronavirus science officer David Kessler — support opening booster shots to all adults nationwide, The Washington Post reports, citing people familiar with their views. But "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has expressed caution about making extra shots so broadly available now," and "tension is rising among officials over how quickly to proceed and who should get the shots."
Supporters of expanding booster shot eligibility point to Israel's success with third shots amid waning protections from the vaccines. Canada and Germany are among the other nations that have approved booster shots for all adults.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Pfizer on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve its request to open its booster for all adults, and the FDA "is strongly inclined to grant it, perhaps by the end of the month — though a disagreement with the CDC could complicate matters," the Post reports. Walensky and some other top CDC officials reportedly aren't convinced young adults need boosters and are waiting to fully review the data. There are concerns that focusing on boosters will take the focus off the real imperative: getting unvaccinated people inoculated.
The highest U.S. uptake in booster shots so far have been in northern, mostly rural states with few mask mandates and low vaccination rates — with the exception of Vermont, which leads the nation in both vaccination rate and booster shots — the Post reports. Meanwhile, booster shots rates are lower in states that have successfully managed the Delta surge and have high vaccination saturation, including California and New York, and Southern states with low vaccinated rates where fall outbreaks are easing.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 19, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - free trade, judicial pushback, and more
By The Week US
-
5 educational cartoons about the Harvard pushback
Cartoons Artists take on academic freedom, institutional resistance, and more
By The Week US
-
One-pan black chickpeas with baharat and orange recipe
The Week Recommends This one-pan dish offers bold flavours, low effort and minimum clean up
By The Week UK
-
The sneaking rise of whooping cough
Under the Radar The measles outbreak isn't the only one to worry about
By Theara Coleman, The Week US
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everything
Feature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
By The Week US
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US