CDC advisers try to work out the details on booster shots

With booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine now authorized in the U.S., government advisers reconvened on Thursday to tackle this question: Exactly who should roll up their sleeves right away?

But that was not the last hurdle. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sets final U.S. policy on who qualifies for the extra shot. And the CDC’s advisers were set to vote Thursday on how many of the roughly 26 million Americans who had their last Pfizer shot at least six months ago should get that third dose.

The widespread dispensing of the boosters would represent an important new phase in the nation's vaccination drive. Britain and Israel are already rolling out a third round of shots over strong objections from the World Health Organization that poor countries don't have enough for their initial doses.