If federal guidance on who needs a booster shot seems complicated and long, the state commissioner of health shortens it to two words: “should” and “may.”
Yes, if you are 65, you should get a booster, says Dr. Lisa Piercey.
The same is true of anyone living in a long-term care facility and those ages 50-64 with medical conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, emphysema, heart disease and diabetes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the recommendations last week, just a week after top scientists, including two leaving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the general population did not need boosters and that more evidence was needed to justify them.
“This was another, I think, failure of communication, failure of process from our government, our public health officials,” said Dr. Jon McCullers, chief pediatrician at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and chair of the pediatrics department at University of Tennessee Health Science Center.