CDC Chief Had Nurses in Mind With Surprise Booster Pivot

It was up to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky to sort out a crucial question: which Americans should be the first to get Covid-19 booster shots.

And there was little consensus.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice on Thursday voted narrowly to restrict eligibility for boosters of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Walensky had a choice: side with the advisers, citing the paucity of data on whether younger, vaccinated adults are truly at risk of severe breakthrough cases of Covid-19. Or overrule them, and err on the ...