US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday that she has taken a scientific call to recommend COVID vaccine booster dose for at-risk frontline workers in the country.

Her recommendation comes despite the agency’s advisory committee voting against the measure.

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The US government will start giving booster doses of the vaccines to Americans who are above 65 years of age, starting with the Pfizer vaccine.

“This was a scientific close call. In that situation, it was my call to make,” Welensky was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Many of our frontline workers, essential workers, and those in congregate settings, come from communities that have already been hardest hit. It was a decision about providing rather than withholding access,” Welensky said.

A group of advisors had recommended a narrow group of people should get the boosters first but Welensky was not bound by that advice.

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She said CDC would update the advisory on booster doses as it evaluates the data on Moderna, Johnson and Johnson boosters in coming weeks.

According to the FDA press release issued a couple of days ago, the agency suggested the following categories would be eligible for a booster shot of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine:

1) Individuals 65 years of age and older

2) Individuals 18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19

3) Individuals 18 through 64 years of age whose frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 puts them at high risk of serious complications of COVID-19 including severe COVID-19.

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“After considering the totality of the available scientific evidence and the deliberations of our advisory committee of independent, external experts, the FDA amended the EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to allow for a booster dose in certain populations such as health care workers, teachers and daycare staff, grocery workers and those in homeless shelters or prisons, among others,” Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration had said.