Headline Roundup • September 3rd, 2021
CDC and FDA Advise White House To Slow Down Booster Shot Plan
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The heads of two leading federal health agencies have advised the White House to slow down its plan to roll out COVID-19 vaccine boosters. In a meeting with White House pandemic coordinator Jeffrey Zients on Thursday, FDA acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock and CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said they needed more time to collect and review all necessary data regarding the booster shots. In August, President Biden announced that the government would offer third shots starting Sept. 20 to those who received the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines at least eight months ago. Chris Meagher, a White House spokesperson, commented on the meeting earlier on Friday, ensuring that they would "always follow the science" and will wait for full approval from the FDA as well as a recommendation from the CDC before moving forward with any booster shot plan.
Coverage was consistent across the spectrum, sticking close to the original New York Times (Lean Left bias) report. Most stories also highlighted how two top FDA officials are stepping down from their positions because they are frustrated with the Biden administration’s purportedly premature decision to weigh in on booster shots.
Featured Coverage of this Story

Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Top federal health officials have told the White House to scale back a plan to offer coronavirus booster shots to the general public later this month, saying that regulators need more time to collect and review all the necessary data, according to people familiar with the discussion.
Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned the White House on Thursday that their agencies may be able to determine in the coming...

Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images
Two federal health officials warned the Biden administration on Thursday that the COVID-19 booster plan the White House outlined earlier this summer might not be possible because of insufficient data, The New York Times reported Friday morning.
The officials, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and FDA acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, made the comments in a meeting with White House pandemic coordinator Jeffrey Zients. From The New York Times:
Among the reasons for delaying is that regulators need more time to decide the proper dosage for a possible third Moderna shot. The...

Mary Altaffer/AP
The leaders of two federal health agencies are urging the White House to rethink its plan to roll out COVID-19 vaccine boosters starting Sept. 20.
The leaders of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are telling White House COVID-19 advisers that there is not enough data right now to make a blanket recommendation on boosters and that it may be prudent to start boosters with older adults first, pending FDA authorization. That's according to a source who has knowledge of the situation but...
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