Follow No Adults Should Be Denied a COVID-19 Booster In California, Official Says

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California health officials directed all providers in the state not to deny booster shots to any adults, effectively making all fully vaccinated adults eligible for a booster shot statewide and going a step further than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's current recommendations.

SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 01: Chairs are set up in a waiting are for people who have received the Pfizer COVID-19 booster vaccination at a vaccination booster shot clinic on October 01, 2021 in San Rafael, California. Marin County opened its first COVID-19 booster shot clinic inside a former Victoria's Secret store at Northgate Mall. The clinic is giving priority to residents over 75 years old but is open to all ages that are eligible to receive the Pfizer booster. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)© (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 01: Chairs are set up in a waiting are for people who have received the Pfizer COVID-19 booster vaccination at a vaccination booster shot clinic on October 01, 2021 in San Rafael, California. Marin County opened its first COVID-19 booster shot clinic inside a former Victoria's Secret store at Northgate Mall. The clinic is giving priority to residents over 75 years old but is open to all ages that are eligible to receive the Pfizer booster. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The Golden State joins Colorado in extending the recommendation beyond the CDC's guidance this week by making boosters available to the entire adult population, fulfilling a White House goal that hit regulatory obstacles in September. Whether other states follow their lead by taking boosters into their own hands remains to be seen.

A California state health official in a letter clarified the state's position on who is eligible for a booster shot, permitting any adult to receive the extra vaccine dose if two months have passed since getting one of the Johnson & Johnson drugs or six months have passed since completing Pfizer or Moderna's vaccination series. The letter goes beyond CDC guidance, which has recommended booster doses for elderly adults, those with certain pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk and adults who live or work in high-risk settings – but not the general adult population. California's new guidance allows patients to "self-determine" their risk of exposure.

"Do not turn a patient away who is requesting a booster," California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Tomás J. Aragón wrote in the letter. "Providers should not miss any opportunity to vaccinate the unvaccinated or provide boosters by offering vaccine during routine or nonroutine visits to medical offices, clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals."

Aragón explained in the letter that a patient's assessment of their own risk of exposure "may include, but is not limited to, those who work with the public or live with someone who works with the public, live or work with someone at high risk of severe impact of COVID, live in geographic areas that have been heavily impacted by COVID, reside in high transmission areas, live in a congregate setting, experience social inequity," or other risk conditions to be determined by the individual.

"If you think you will benefit from getting a booster shot, I encourage you to go out and get it," Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency Dr. Mark Ghaly said during a news conference Wednesday.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis took things a step further Thursday, signing an executive order declaring that all adults are eligible for a booster shot of the coronavirus vaccine, after the state's top health official had recommended it days earlier.

Given the state's rising coronavirus case rates, Gov. Jared Polis argued that the entire state of Colorado is at high risk of exposure to COVID-19, equating the entire state of Colorado to a high-risk setting, perhaps in an attempt to align the recommendation with CDC guidance for receiving a booster dose if one's work or living environment puts them at high risk of exposure.

"Because disease spread is so significant across Colorado, all Coloradans who are 18 years of age and older are at high risk and qualify for a booster shot," Polis wrote in his executive order.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky explained during Wednesday's White House coronavirus briefing that the FDA is currently looking at the data and considering whether to make the larger adult population eligible for a booster after a panel of specialists last month declined to make such a recommendation. But the administration's focus remains on getting shots to the unvaccinated, those who are already eligible for a booster and children ages 5-11 who recently become eligible for initial doses.

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