The question of when older adults should get a second vaccine booster is the latest example of the government shifting decisions from broad-based community outreach to personal choice. People 50 years and older can get the additional booster at least four months after their first, but health authorities aren’t pushing those eligible to get the shots.

The actions represent a shift from two years ago when government officials responded to the pandemic by shutting down cities, limiting capacity in public places and mandating social distancing. Then, they lacked effective treatments, vaccines and widespread testing to fight the pandemic. Now, as those tools help dent the worst outcomes as the virus continues to spread, the response is becoming more tailored to people’s own health and appetite for risk, according to public-health experts.

“We have many different ways of protecting ourselves at this point,” said Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at George Washington University. “People are going to choose different levels of protection based on their own tolerance of risk and how much they want to avoid Covid-19, and at this point, the role of government needs to be to empower people to use the tools that are readily available.”