Biden to receive booster shot today
President Biden will receive his COVID-19 booster shot on Monday afternoon, the White House said in updated official guidance.
“The President will deliver remarks and receive a COVID-19 booster shot in line with the CDC’s and FDA’s recommendations,” the White House guidance said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, respectively.
Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on live television in December of last year and received his second dose publicly the following month.
Biden, who is 78 years old, falls within the pool of individuals that the CDC recommends receive boosters of the Pfizer vaccine.
The White House said previously that Biden would receive his booster shot publicly once the third dose was recommended.
The CDC last week recommended boosters of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans over age 65, nursing homes residents, individuals with underlying medical conditions and people whose jobs put them at high risk for contracting the virus.
In a rare move, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky diverged from an advisory panel in making the recommendation for people at risk of COVID-19 infection because of their jobs.
Walensky defended the decision during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” over the weekend, saying it was a “scientific close call” as to whether individuals in high-risk job setting should be eligible for a third dose of the vaccine.
“Because of that close call and because of all the evidence we reviewed both of the FDA and at the CDC, I felt it was appropriate for those people to also be eligible for boosters,” Walensky said.
“So, who are those people? Those are people who live and work in high-risk settings, that includes people in homeless shelters, people in group homes, people in prisons, but also importantly are people who work with vulnerable communities. So our health care workers, our teachers, our grocery workers, our public transportation employees,” she said.
Biden delivered a speech on Friday urging all Americans who are eligible for the Pfizer booster to get the third dose.
Updated at 11:43 a.m.