Page 38 - Close Call News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> where there was some real scientific discussion and a scientific close call was for those people who are at high risk by virtue of where they live or where they work. because of that close call and because of all the evidence we reviewed both at the fda and at the cdc, i felt it was appropriate for those people to also be eligible for boosters. >> you're watching cnn. still ahead, the first official results from a landmark election in germany and what it means for the future of europe's largest economy. we have that key story. plus this. a volcano in the canary islands has been erupting...

And the children of afghanistan. the airman who took this now iconic photo speaking out for the first time about the desperate evacuation this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt good evening calling it a scientific close call, the director of the cdc expanded the group of americans who today become eligible for booster shots of pfizer's covid vaccine. right now, 183 million americans are fully vaccinated but late night decision by dr. rochelle walensky will qualify up to 60 million americans for booster. adding front line workers, teachers, health care workers, for example. groups left...

Transparently deliberated for hours over some of these very difficult questions and where the science was. this was a scientific close call and i think you could tell by the duration of the meeting and the discussions that this was a scientific close call. in that situation it was my call to make. >> are you on board with this? >> so i -- it's difficult. so let me say this, i will say that i understand where the decision came from. if you are operating in a vacuum, if we're pretending the u.s. is its own island and we're going by just the priorities for this country this decision makes a lot o...

All of us. jacqui: and i want to play this about dr. walensky and how she made the decision and get your reaction. >> i want to be clear i did not overrule an advisory committee. i listened to the votes and comments on the votes and this was a scientific close call and you could tell by the duration of the meeting and the discussions, that this is with an a scientific close call. in that situation, it was my call to make. jacqui: so what she's talking about there for our audience who may not know the context, there was agreement that people over 65 and with underlying health conditions should ...

Scientific close call. in that situation, it was my call to make. >> scientific close call. and you could watch the fda advisory meeting and take away the same thing. it was a close call when it came to authorizing vaccines for those in high-transmission environments. are you concerned, though, this creates confusion about the process and maybe sets back some of the booster effort in its kind of nascent stages here? >> that's always the risk of having transparency in the process. and unfortunately it's all being piled on by a very aggressive anti-vaccine groups who do anything they can to fome...