More Americans Getting COVID Boosters Than First Doses
More are getting their third shot than their first.
CNN (“More people are getting Covid-19 vaccine boosters than getting their first shots, CDC data shows“):
According to most recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more people are receiving a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine each day than are getting their first shot or are becoming fully vaccinated each day.
CDC data now shows more than six million fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. An average of 390,444 people are getting a booster shot each day, while only 288,105 people are starting their vaccination series each day and 276,539 people are becoming fully vaccinated each day.
Current recommendations from the CDC are that people over 65, people who have a health condition putting them at greater risk of severe disease if they do get a breakthrough infection or people who face a greater risk of contracting Covid-19 while at work or in their living circumstances can receive a booster dose. A booster dose is currently only authorized for those who received a full series of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccination.
Plus, certain people who are immune compromised are authorized for a third dose, although it’s not technically considered a booster because it’s likely they did not fully respond to the first two doses.
[…]
According to CDC data, more than 64% of booster doses administered so far have been given to people 65 or older. Nearly 9% of all fully vaccinated people 65 or older have received a booster dose.
While shocking at first glance, it really makes sense. Here are the CDC’s overview statistics:
So, first off, the pool of eligible unvaccinated folks is very small. (The “fully vaccinated” numbers are somewhat lower but still pretty good.) And, while there are logistical and economic barriers for some of those folks, it’s safe to assume that the overwhelming majority of them are either outright refusniks or at least quite hesitant to get vaccinated if they haven’t done so this far into the campaign.
Further, those eligible for boosters are in the group that is far and away the most enthusiastic about getting vaccinated. This makes sense: they’re the ones most likely to die or suffer the most serious complications if they come down with the virus.
In an editorial this morning Eugene Robinson asks
He goes on to cite the debt ceiling, vaccination, CRT, and the “stolen election”.
Noting economic growth in WWII, Dr. K used to half seriously say we should fake an alien invasion so the country and the world would pull together against a common threat and spend whatever was necessary. Well, we have it. COVID is a common enemy, and look what happened. Half the country set out to deal with the crisis and a third of the country set out to profit politically. It is really disturbing to ponder whether democracy can survive Republicans and FOX, but I repeat myself.
FWIW, I’ve been surprised that I still come across people who are quite willing to get vaccinated but just haven’t been able to get it coordinated. I work mostly around professionals for a company that takes this very seriously and has offered us several onsite vaccination opportunities. But not all people are in that situation, and running and maintaining their regular lives can be quite a challenge. They just aren’t set up mentally or logistically to handle exceptions. I’ve lived in and around some tough neighborhoods and there are any number of people I’ve gotten to know that, quite frankly, view life anxiously as one impending disaster after another, because they really don’t have the mental capacity to handle what they view as muddy confusion of people telling them they should do things.
So the responsible are becoming safer from the covidiots?
One cannot blame the current wave of COVID entirely on the latter, seeing as how countries with higher vaccination rates also let their guard down and are suffering consequences.
@gVOR08: If people were dropping in the streets, dying much more publicly then there would uniting in my opinion but the sanitized, hidden deaths in hospitals doesn’t seem to arouse a visceral reaction.
My wife and I got the J&J vax back in March because it was the only one we could seem to get at the time. We recently got the Moderna vax (both shots) because of the better efficacy and I just know that Covid has it in for me. In 6 months we’ll get the booster.
Yeah, I’ve been there, careening from one crises to the next. It’s called, “being poor”. But the vax is free and available. They must not be trying very hard. If they shop at Walmart it’s as easy as stopping at the pharmacy while grocery shopping.