Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Thursday, October 14th. I'm Nailibutu. Here's

what we're following today. Mia Mercano and new attention on missing and murdered women

of color. Plus, Snapchat is trying to get its users to run for office. But first, today's

one big thing, clearing up the latest confusion around COVID boosters.

New data from the National Institutes of Health shows that people who got the J&J vaccine

might benefit from getting a Pfizer or Moderna booster shot. But Johnson and Johnson has

asked the FDA to approve a second shot for its own vaccine. So what's the right move here?

Here to explain is Caitlin Owens, a healthcare reporter for Axios, who's also here to explain

what you need to know ahead of several booster-related panels that the FDA are having starting

today. Hey, Caitlin. Hey, thanks for having me.

Caitlin, this is pretty confusing. I feel like I should just say to you, but what does

this new data tell us about mixing and matching boosters? Should we just start with Johnson

and Johnson, first of all? So obviously, J&J recipients. There's not as many of them.

There's about 15 million in the US. They only got one shot. This is going to be the big

looming question. Should they get another shot at J&J or should they get one of these mRNA

shots, which, you know, according to the data out yesterday by the NIH, unless it's a

greater neutralizing antibody response, which is one form of immune protection?

So who is authorized to get booster shots right now? So right now, remember the first

group to get authorized for a booster shot were immunocompromised people. Then a couple

of weeks ago, we had the Pfizer booster process. And this FDA panel said we're going to limit

it to people 65 and older, as well as people with high-risk conditions. And then the CDC

added high-risk occupations. And those are only Pfizer recipients. By the end of probably

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