(New York Times) – Memos released in recent days by the Food and Drug Administration show that the agency’s vaccine chief overruled staff scientists who favored widespread access to Covid shots, setting off a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers, state officials and doctors.

Agency staff members had concluded that the F.D.A. should allow a wide range of age groups to receive the vaccines, citing high hospitalization rates among young children with Covid and saying that the virus’s evolution is “complex and remains unpredictable.”

But Dr. Vinay Prasad, the agency official in charge of vaccines and gene therapies at the F.D.A., disagreed, overriding those scientists and deciding to issue very narrow eligibility limits. (Read More)