US expands COVID boosters to all adults, final hurdle ahead

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Friday opened up COVID-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s campaign to shore up protection and get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that may worsen with the holidays.

Pfizer and Moderna announced the Food and Drug Administration’s decision after at least 10 states already had started offering boosters to all adults. The latest action simplifies what until now has been a confusing list of who’s eligible by allowing anyone 18 or older to choose either company’s booster six months after their last dose — regardless of which vaccine they had first.

But there’s one more step: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must agree to expand Pfizer and Moderna boosters to even healthy young adults. Its scientific advisers were set to debate later Friday.

If the CDC agrees, tens of millions more Americans could have three doses of protection ahead of the new year. Anyone who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine can already get a booster.



FILE - A syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa., on Sept. 14, 2021. U.S. regulators have opened up COVID-19 booster shots to all and more adults, Friday, Nov. 19, letting them choose another dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-business-health-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-34aabde2c1c5a88c7763fa1dac77df5f

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Use it or lose it

If you can't get vaxxed by Jan 1, no more vax for you! Call their bluff!