Officials into action with the announcement of a third dose for Moderna And Pfizer vaccine recipients subject to an independent review from the fda. It is now our clinical judgment that the time to lay out a plan for covid19 boosters is now. We planned to start this program the week of september 20, 2021. I want to emphasize that this decision was not made lightly. It was made with careful consideration by the top medical and Public Health experts and it was made by data, thoughtful analysis and collective years of experience addressing illness and epidemics. The 900,000 new u. S. Covid cases in the last week include Texas Governor Greg abbot, a fierce opponent of Mask Mandates who were fully vaccinated and there are bombarding icus with children filling the beds. Please get vaccinated. The best action you can do to protect yourself and others is to get vaccinated in the first place. We begin this hour with the situation in afghanistan, and nbc National Security and military Correspond
i m michael holmes and welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states and around the world. appreciate your company. this is cnn newsroom. those stories in a moment, but first after debate and disagreement among vaccine experts, pfizer booster shots can now be officially administered to millions of adults in the u.s.. the director of the u.s. centers for disease control rochelle walensky is breaking with the recommendation of the cdc s independent vaccine advisers. instead she s siding with the fda, which on wednesday recommended emergency use authorization for a booster dose of pfizer s covid-19 vaccine in people 65 and older. she is also giving the green light to those aged 18 and over with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk of severe disease, and those at high risk because of their occupation, which, of course, would include health care workers and the like. now, cdc advisers had voted against giving boosters to people age 18 to 64 who
so much to get to. welcome to the viewers in the united states and all around the world. we have reports this morning from capitol hill, haiti he, mexico and germany. but we begin with the big breaking news this morning. the cdc director now recommends vaccine booster shots for front line workers at high risk for covid. we re talking people like teachers, health care workers and others whose jobs put them at risk by expanding who can get a shot, dr. rochelle walensky went against her own vaccine s advisers. the cdc advisers disagreed boosters were needed by these big groups of young healthy people. so today boosters for more people can officially begin in the united states. if you re fuzzy on the guidelines, europe not alone. you re not alone. i think the problem here is this is a byzantine schedule for who is eligible that is going to be hard to implement. if the guidance is this confusing and requires this many steps and it s hard to assure eligibility, it s going to ul
here are the top stories we re covering this hour. israel says its war effort to eliminate hamas is entering a new phase with the new year. but is it going to reduce civilian casualties as the question has been questioning. this as prime minister netanyahu suffers a major political setback from his country s supreme court. i ll teak to ambassador mark regev and the democratic senator. and in tokyo, a five-man crew of air national guard claimed dead but all 400 on board a wide-body passenger plane escaping safely in just minutes after their plane exploded on the runway. and we ll look at the surge of respiratory illnesses over the holiday season. as flu, covid and rsv give families a rough start to 2024. and good day, everyone. i m andrea mitchell in washington. israel is starting the new year by launching intense attacks against central and southern gaza, even as the idf begins the process, it says, of bringing the first several thousand of its troops home. that includ
The holiday season over, the cdc says dozens of states reporting increasing numbers of respiratory illnesses. cases of the flu, rsv, covid, the common cold, all on the rise. sending thousands of people to hospitals across the country. and with vaccination numbers waning, experts say the situation could get even worse. nbc news correspondent blayne alexander joins us from atlanta. what are the cdc numbers showing and what are doctors telling you? reporter: so, andrea, you started talking about the vaccination numbers. i want to begin there. right now they re low. officials warn they were low. the cdc put out a rare message to doctors in december, basically saying urge your at risk patients or high risk patients to get the shot. so when you look at the covid boost, 18% of adults have had that shot. the flu shot is less than 50%, it is down from last year. so, when you combine that with the fact that we typically see a rise in respiratory illnesses