CDC Director Overrules Agency’s Own Vaccine Safety Committee, Sides With FDA to Approve Boosters for ‘High-Risk’ Workers

By Megan Redshaw

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disregarded the advice of the agency’s vaccine advisory committee, clearing the way for healthcare workers, teachers, and residents of long-term care facilities, homeless shelters and prisons to get a third Pfizer COVID shot.

In an “unusual move,” the director of the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday overruled a recommendation by the agency’s vaccine advisory committee to limit Pfizer’s COVID booster shot for people 65 and older, long-term care facility residents and certain people with underlying conditions.

Instead, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky aligned with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authorization of a third dose of Pfizer’s vaccine for a broader population, including healthcare workers, teachers and others whose jobs put them at “high risk” of infections, plus residents of prisons and homeless shelters.

President Biden today acted on the news, announcing his administration will begin to deliver booster shots this week, Politico reported.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Thursday voted unanimously to approve Pfizer’s booster shot for people 65 and older, long-term care facility residents and certain people with underlying conditions, with the third shot to be administered at least six months after the second dose.

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cdc-director-dr-rochelle-walensky-overrules-vaccine-safety-committee-boosters/