U.S. regulators continued to be plagued in 2021 with accusations of politicization, most of which revolved around the expansion of the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite the Biden administration’s avowed commitment to follow the science in regulatory decision-making, the White House COVID-19 Response Team appeared to jump ahead of the science Aug. 18 when it announced the Sept. 20 rollout of a nationwide booster program for all adults. The program called for boosters to be administered eight months after the final dose of the vaccine. But just a few days earlier, government health officials had stressed that boosters were only needed for people who were immunocompromised.