CDC advisory panel recommends Pfizer boosters for older, some high-risk Americans


Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously on Thursday to recommend booster doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for Americans 65 and older, residents of long-term care facilities, and people between 50 and 64 with underlying health conditions.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized boosters for people 65 and older, frontline workers, and individuals with underlying conditions that put them at high risk of getting severe COVID if infected.
The CDC advisory panel said the boosters should come at least six months after a person received their second dose of the vaccine. The CDC typically adopts the recommendations of the panel, and if CDC Director Rochelle Walensky decides to follow the guidance, that's the final step in getting boosters into the arms of millions of Americans.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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