If you're over 50, it's time for another Covid booster

The FDA approves boosters for 50 and up and the immunocompromised; Russia and Ukraine hold promising peace talks in Istanbul.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

FDA approves boosters for adults 50 and up

Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images

• On Tuesday, the FDA granted emergency authorization for a second booster of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccines for everyone 50 and up, to be taken at least four months after the first booster. [USA Today / Karen Weintraub]
• The FDA also authorized a second booster of both vaccines for immunocompromised adults; those 12 and older with weakened immune systems are only authorized to take the Pfizer/BioNTech. [New York Times / Sharon LaFraniere]
• “Current evidence suggests some waning of protection over time against serious outcomes from Covid-19 in older and immunocompromised individuals,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a news release. Another booster is believed to restore lost protection. [FDA]
• After the BA.2 omicron variant spike in cases across Europe, the approval should help shore up immune systems, especially if another surge hits the US later this spring or summer. [Politico / Katherine Ellen Foley]
• According to CDC data, two doses and a booster were 94 percent effective at saving lives and preventing hospitalizations during much of the recent US omicron wave. It isn’t clear exactly how much a second booster will help, but a study in Israel showed fewer omicron deaths were recorded among adults aged 60 and up who got a second booster compared to those who didn’t. [Associated Press / Lauran Neergaard and Matthew Perrone]

Russia and Ukraine hold promising peace talks 

• In ongoing peace talks Tuesday, Russia agreed to scale back operations around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, while Ukraine offered to adopt neutral status with security guarantees from international allies. [Reuters / Jonathan Spicer and Gleb Garanich]
• At the latest round of peace talks held in Istanbul, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the decision to cut back forces was to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” His statements were met with skepticism from the US and its allies. [AP / Nebi Qena and Yuras Karmanau]
• More than a month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thousands have been killed, millions displaced — and the destruction continues. [USA Today / John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz, and Celina Tebor]
• Although there were signs of some Russian forces withdrawing from Kyiv Tuesday, the US Department of Defense warned the invasion is far from over. “We believe that this is a repositioning, not a real withdrawal ... It does not mean the threat to Kyiv is over,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. [CNN / Michael Conte and Ellie Kaufman]
• Nevertheless, both sides suggest the talks offer a possible way forward. The most challenging issues, a Ukrainian delegate said, would have to be worked out between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A referendum vote in Ukraine has been promised, too, though it's not clear at what stage that might take place. [NPR]

The US is millions of homes short of demand from would-be buyers because, for many years, builders haven’t been building enough houses. [NPR / Chris Arnold]

• Families of victims of last year’s deadly Astroworld festival have accused rapper Travis Scott of violating the gag order tied to lawsuits against him. [AP / Juan A. Lozano]
• The Chinese government declared genetic information a national resource and ramped up state control of gene banks. [Axios / Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian]
• Job turnover tied to the Great Resignation remained high in February, with more than 4 million US workers quitting their jobs. At the same time,  employers posted more than 11 million job openings. [Washington Post / Abha Bhattarai and Andrew Van Dam]

“I see this [Covid-19 second booster] approval from the Biden administration as being an insurance policy on their part. ... It also provides them with the flexibility so that should BA.2 be worse than we’re expecting, they can quickly roll it out.”

[Dr. Megan Ranney of Brown University's School of Public Health/ CNN]

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