Here’s the deal with COVID vaccine booster shots
THE BIG STORY
Here's everything you need to know if you're totally confused about COVID-19 vaccine booster shots  (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) There's been fierce disagreement among scientists — including within the federal government — about whether COVID vaccine booster shots are needed and who should get them. Does it depend on which vaccine you got? What about your age? And why is there so much debate over this issue anyway? Here's what we know so far.
What's a booster shot? A booster shot is an additional dose of a vaccine intended to "boost" the immune response to a particular virus. Booster doses are routinely administered for many vaccines.
Who qualifies for a booster? So far, only people who have already received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine qualify for a booster dose. The CDC recommends that 1) people 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings and 2) people 50–64 years old with underlying medical conditions get booster shots at this time.
There are some other groups that may want to consider getting a booster shot, according to the CDC, but they are advised to talk to their physicians for individual guidance first.
Why is there so much fighting over booster shots? Many health experts argue that the primary goal should be vaccinating as many people as possible worldwide to prevent deaths and the emergence of new, more dangerous variants.
And within the US health agencies, much of the disagreement centered over whether boosters were necessary, since the vaccines still provide strong protection against severe illness. In the end, the agreement was that those at the highest risk should get an additional shot rather than the general population.
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS
Republican lawmakers are pressing ahead with anti-abortion laws, with or without the Supreme Court's help  An activist speaks outside the Supreme Court in protest of the new Texas abortion law. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) This December, the Supreme Court is scheduled to consider a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A ruling in favor of Mississippi would give the green light to Republican-led states hoping to impose sweeping abortion bans at earlier phases of pregnancy; most people obtain an abortion during the first trimester.
But lawmakers are also planning for a potential future where the Supreme Court leaves long-standing abortion protections in place.
For example: Tennessee is asking the 6th Circuit to revisit an earlier decision that blocked the state's six-week ban. A lawsuit challenging South Carolina's six-week abortion ban is before the 4th Circuit and hasn't been argued yet. Oklahoma is defending a cluster of laws due to take effect Nov. 1, including a prohibition against nearly all abortions.
SNAPSHOTS
Trump keeps promoting Democrats in races against Republicans who speak out against him. The former president has continually lashed out against Republicans who won't peddle unfounded conspiracy theories and has endorsed primary challengers to run against them.
Three people were killed when an Amtrak train derailed in Montana. Eight of the train's 10 cars derailed, with at least one flipping completely on its side. No reason has been given for the derailment.
THE BORDER CRISIS
Immigrants who escaped the Texas camp crackdown are facing another set of dire circumstances in Mexico For hundreds of immigrants who left Del Rio, Texas, this week in an effort to avoid deportation to Haiti, the walls are closing in.
Immigration agents and armed police officers conducted day and nighttime raids on the streets of Ciudad Acuña, where they've been detaining and flying immigrants to southern Mexican states. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has moved thousands of immigrants from the Del Rio area to other parts of the border, to be processed into the country or removed. For days, immigrants have been going back and forth across the precarious Rio Grande, moving to whichever side of the border seems friendliest.
Options are becoming increasingly precarious for the mostly Haitian immigrants in Mexico. Confronted with either persecution in Mexico or returning to a home country wracked by devastation, many feel stranded and at a loss for how to move forward from here.
"How do you expect us to survive?" one migrant asked a Mexican immigration official. "We have nothing, and then we try to leave and the National Guard beats us up." HONORING A FRIEND
Sarah Jessica Parker broke her silence with a moving tribute to her Sex and the City costar Willie Garson  Garson and Parker at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in 2008 (Matt Sayles/AP) Sarah Jessica Parker gave an emotional Instagram tribute following the death of her former costar Willie Garson.
"It's been unbearable," she wrote in a post on Friday, explaining why she waited longer than other SATC actors to publicly talk about her beloved costar's life. "Sometimes silence is a statement. Of the gravity. The anguish."
Garson starred alongside Parker as Stanford Blatch, Carrie Bradshaw's fashion-forward best friend. He died of pancreatic cancer at age 57 in his home in Los Angeles last week.
"A real friendship that allowed for secrets, adventure, a shared professional family, truth, concerts, road trips, meals, late night phone calls, a mutual devotion to parenthood and all the heartaches and joy that accompany, triumphs, disappointments, fear, rage and years spent on sets (most especially Carrie's apartment) and laughing late into the night as both Stanford and Carrie and Willie and SJ," she wrote.
"Willie. I will miss everything about you." If you have something to say, say it today, Alexa 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Alexa Lee and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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