Should you get a COVID booster shot as soon as you are eligible?

COVID booster shots
(Image credit: Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are expected to open COVID-19 booster shot eligibility this week to all adults who got their Pfizer and Moderna second doses at least six months earlier. (Everyone vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson's vaccine should get a booster after two months, the CDC advises.) Several states and large cities have already cleared all adults to get booster shots.

If you are under 65, relatively healthy, and don't have other risk factors that have made you eligible to get a booster shot since September, should you schedule your third dose as soon as the FDA and CDC give you the green light?

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.