This would be a totally different calculus if this were last April and we were facing a shortage. But last time I checked we have a glut of vaccine available. We're giving out like 15% of the doses per day that we were at our peak in April or May. Data are great when you have them, but in the fog-of-war you do the prudent thing. And the prudent thing, since we know it's basically safe, is to tell everyone to load up.
I want to be forgiving in a way. I don't know what indemnity the FDA and CDC workers have if they make a bad choice. I was very frustrated in the beginning of the pandemic at Congress's lack of willingness to indemnify the health community. I and many people I know wanted to try some things (with informed consent, obviously), but we couldn't convince our lawyers that we weren't opening ourselves up for some serious lawsuits if things went awry. The Republicans tried to indemnify businesses who forced workers back to work. Democrats did nothing. That was the state of play. So I'm sure the CDC and FDA are operating by old rules because Congress hasn't given them a choice to do otherwise. Most of what's wrong with America is Congress's fault, and most of what's wrong with Congress is the GOP's fault.