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The U.S. on Friday opened COVID-19 booster shots to all adults and took the extra step of urging people 50 and older to seek one, aiming to ward off a winter surge as coronavirus cases rise even before millions of Americans travel for the holidays. Until now, Americans faced a confusing list of who was eligible for a booster that varied by age, their health and which kind of vaccine they got first. The Food and Drug Administration authorized changes to Pfizer and Moderna boosters that makes it easier. (Neergaard, Perrone and Stobbe, 11/19)

The new recommendations state that people between the ages of 18 and 49 who have no risk factors may get a booster if they wish. All other people should get a booster. From now on health personnel administering booster doses will need to ask two simple questions of people who received one of the mRNA vaccines as their primary Covid series: Are you 18 or older? and Has it been six months or longer since you received your second shot? (Branswell, 11/19)

Federal health officials hope a straightforward boosters-for-all policy will prompt millions more people to get the shots before they travel or gather with friends and family over the holidays. Many are concerned about the worsening picture as winter approaches. After new cases dipped to almost 69,000 on Oct. 25 — their lowest point in months — they began climbing again, with the seven-day average rising 40 percent to more than 96,000 on Thursday. The final piece of the booster-policy overhaul fell into place early Friday evening when Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accepted two unanimous recommendations from the agency’s independent experts. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said anyone 18 and older may get a booster and — to stress the urgency of increasing protection for the most vulnerable age group — anyone 50 and older should make sure they get one. (Sun, McGinley and Stead Sellers, 11/19)

Vaccine experts say there's little downside to getting a booster dose; side effects are comparable to the initial round of shots. Protection from vaccines starts to fade at about six months, data shows. The same people who are vulnerable to severe COVID-19 – those over 65 or with certain medical conditions such as diabetes or lung disease – are also more vulnerable to so-called breakthrough infections. Here is what you should know about boosters. (Weintraub, 11/21)

While public health experts largely cheered the expansion of U.S. COVID booster recommendations to all adults, the language they used raised some eyebrows. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday accepted a key advisory committee's recommendation that adults "may" get a booster dose. Those at higher risk for poor COVID outcomes have been told they "should" get another shot. (Reed, 11/22)

Friday’s authorization by federal officials to expand Covid-19 booster shot eligibility to all adults was met with overwhelming support from public health experts. But some were puzzled as to why the Food and Drug Administration didn’t make the move sooner. Despite a plan by the Biden administration to have boosters available to nearly all Americans by late September, the FDA had only authorized a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for certain populations, such as those 65 and older and people with underlying medical conditions, up until this point. (Chuck, 11/20)

"We’re going to take a look right now at what the durability is of the booster," Fauci told "State of the Union" host Dana Bash. "We’re going to follow people who get boosted." "People should not be put off by the fact that as time goes by and we learn more and more about the protection that we might modify the guidelines," he explained. "That’s what we’ve been saying all along by follow the science, things change and you have to follow the data." For now, the definition of fully vaccinated will remain as two shots of a Pfizer or Moderna regimen or one shot of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine. (Aitken, 11/21)

Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that he thinks "at some point" Americans who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 after three doses, although likely "not this year." "I think eventually this will be considered the three-dose vaccine, but I would be hard-pressed to believe CDC is going to make that recommendation any time soon," said Gottlieb. (Hayes, 11/21)