Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. We've made it to Wednesday. It's October 27th. I'm Nailibutu.

Here's what you need to know today. What the Sudanese coup says about democracy worldwide. Plus,

meatless meals make it into public school lunches. But first, today's one big thing.

Who's eligible for COVID boosters and first shots, including kids?

After what's felt like a long wait, an FDA advisory panel yesterday voted to recommend the Pfizer COVID vaccine to kids age five to 11.

Axios healthcare editor Tina Reed. This is a big deal, right?

Yes. So a lot of parents have been really eagerly watching this. And one of my big takeaways from the FDA Advisory Committee was that they were really cognizant of that.

And while they really didn't want their vote to ultimately turn into vaccine mandates for kids under 12.

They did want to make sure parents had the option to get this for their kids.

And I think that's going to be a thing to watch as this heads to the CDC next week.

Tina's going to be back with the podcast Friday to answer your questions about the rollout of the vaccine for kids.

Thanks for those who've already sent them. You can text your questions to 202-918-4893.

Meanwhile, I think there's still a lot of confusion about who is eligible for a COVID booster and who has access to booster shots.

So I called up Julie Robner, Chief Washington correspondent for Kaiser Health News and host of KHN's What the Health Podcast.

Julie, who exactly should be getting a COVID booster right now?

They're recommended for people who are over 65. And there is some evidence that immunity in that category starts to wane after six months.

People who are at high risk for severe COVID. So people under age 65 who have underlying conditions.

And people who are exposed on the job, frontline workers, people who work in healthcare settings and long-term care facilities.

Then the people who got J&J, there's about 15 million of those people. If you got the single shot J&J, you probably should get a booster.

And you probably should get a booster if you really want to be safe with one of the mRNA vaccines of Pfizer or Moderna.

What does a science say about how much of a difference boosters make in terms of protection from COVID?

Well, of course, it depends on the science that you're looking at. But in general, boosters do increase your antibody load.

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