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Walensky Defends Decision To Go Against Advisors On Pfizer COVID Booster Recommendation

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith and Sue Sutter

‘If I had been in the room, I would have voted yes,’ CDC director says of ACIP. ‘This was a scientific close call. ... And that was how my recommendations came out after listening to all of their scientific deliberations.’

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky
CDC Director Speaks About Pfizer Booster Decision At White House Briefing • Source: Screenshot

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said that the “close call” nature of the agency’s vaccine advisor’s decision not to recommend a third dose of the Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE’s Comirnaty vaccine in people at high risk of COVID-19 due to their occupational or institutional setting, gave her the prerogative to make her own determination.

Walensky, speaking 24 September at a White House COVID-19 briefing, ostensibly argued that when decisions come down to judgement calls...

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