Faced with growing worries over a potential winter coronavirus surge, health officials in California and other areas are turbocharging the push for COVID-19 booster shots in hopes of getting more adults the extra dose as soon as possible. But the wording of the recently issued criteria is broad, and some health officials, including in California, are now increasingly pointing out that it can be interpreted in a much more expansive way. Based on all of those reasons, “pretty much everybody is eligible,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the health officer and public health director for Santa Clara County, Northern California’s most populous county. Just this week, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow boosters of their COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older. However, those figures remain well below what health officials believe is necessary to bring the pandemic to its knees.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 12, 2021 17:15 UTC