CDC Says Everyone Over 65 Should Get Another ‘Covid’ Booster

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that all seniors over the age of 65 have another Covid jab.

The CDC’s expert panel apparently sparred over making the shot optional, as they are now wary of “vaccine fatigue” among the public and medical experts.

The Defender reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday endorsed a recommendation that adults 65 and older get an extra dose of the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended the additional dose for seniors, acknowledging their increased risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 infection.

CDC Director Mandy Cohen said the recommendation allows older adults to “receive an additional dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide added protection.”

She cited statistics showing that over half of COVID-19 hospitalizations late last year were among adults 65 and older, who also accounted for most deaths.

According to the CDC, the extra vaccine dose will restore protection that may have waned in older adults “at highest risk” since the previous fall booster shots.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September recommended the “updated” COVID-19 vaccine targeting the XBB.1.5 strain for everyone 6 months and older.

Yet as one user on X (formerly known as Twitter) pointed out, the XBB.1.5 strain is now rarely found in circulation:

The CDC on Feb. 23 issued an update on the changing threat of COVID-19, noting that while hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 were decreasing, “risks continue to be higher for older adults, infants and people with pre-existing medical conditions.”

“CDC recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older get an updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine,” the update stated — including “pregnant people … at any time during pregnancy.”

Vaccine fatigue clouds new booster guidance

The CDC’s move to endorse another COVID-19 vaccine booster for seniors comes amid intensifying “vaccine fatigue” among the public and medical experts.

According to The Associated Press, the ACIP committee engaged in a “lengthy discussion about whether to say older people ‘may’ get the shots or if they ‘should’ do so,” reflecting an ongoing debate about the necessity of additional boosters.

Some advisory panel members pushed for the more forceful “should” language to prod doctors into actively recommending the extra shot.

However, other doctors argued protection from the 2023 updated boosters has not significantly declined, citing recent studies that found no substantial waning immunity over six months post-booster