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Adults age 65 and older and residents of long-term care facilities who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should get a third "booster" shot, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decided just before midnight on Sept. 24. The agency chief also accepted several other recommendations of her advisory committee, including one that encourages an extra shot for people ages 50 to 65 with underlying medical conditions.
But in a highly unusual move, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky went against the panel's strong rejection of allowing a third shot for people whose job puts them at high risk for getting or transmitting COVID and said those Americans may get a booster.
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"As CDC Director, it is my job to recognize where our actions can have the greatest impact," Walensky said in a statement accompanying her decision. "At CDC, we are tasked with analyzing complex, often imperfect data to make concrete recommendations that optimize health. In a pandemic, even with uncertainty, we must take actions that we anticipate will do the greatest good."
Who Qualifies for Pfizer’s Booster Shot?
The CDC recommends the following people get a COVID-19 booster at least six months after getting shots one and two in the Pfizer-BioNTech series.
- People 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings
- People aged 50–64 with underlying medical conditions
- People aged 18–49 with underlying medical conditions, based on their individual benefits and risks
- People aged 18-64 who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of their occupation (e.g., health care workers, teachers, grocery store employees), based on their individual benefits and risks
Walensky did accept a suggestion by the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that people ages 18 to 49 with underlying medical conditions could also get a booster, depending on their individual risk of getting COVID and the benefit another shot could provide. People with compromised immune systems have already been cleared to get a third shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Taken together, Walensky's decisions make it possible for a wide swath of Americans to get a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine. The boosters will be available immediately to people in these categories if it's been at least six months since they got their second Pfizer shot. The Biden administration announced several weeks ago that pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), all adults would be able to get a booster eight months after their second shot beginning the week of Sept. 20.