WASHINGTON (AP) – The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Sunday that there is confusion in the United States about who should get a COVID-19 booster.
For starters, the boosters approved last week will only be for people originally vaccinated with Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky endorsed most of the CDC advisers’ recommendations on giving boosters six months after the last dose of Pfizer for certain groups of people.
That includes people 65 and older, nursing home residents, and people 50-64 with chronic health problems like diabetes. Those over 18 with health problems can decide for themselves if they want a booster.
But Walensky also ignored the counselors’ objections, saying that people at higher risk of infection due to their jobs or living conditions could qualify for a booster now. That includes doctors, teachers, and people in prisons or homeless shelters.
“I recognize that confusion at this point,” Walensky told CBS’s “Face the Nation” show.
“We are evaluating this science in real time,” he said. “Now we meet every few weeks to evaluate the science. It is quite possible that science will show that the rest of the population needs a boost and we will provide those guidelines as soon as we have science to inform them.
Boosters are not yet authorized for Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
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