This is an excerpt of an investigation by STAT, the health and medicine news site that’s a partner to the Globe. For a full version of this story and related coverage, visit STAT.
America is over the Covid vaccine.
Frantic lineups for scarce doses when Covid vaccines first became available have long since given way to widespread indifference. Each new round of boosters has drawn fewer bared arms than the round before it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, as of Jan. 6, a mere 21.5% of Americans aged 18 and older and 11% of children have been vaccinated with the latest Covid vaccine.
But before you write off that number as a reflection of hesitancy over vaccines overall, consider this: 46.7% of Americans aged 18 and older and 47.5% of children have been vaccinated against influenza for this cold and flu season. In older adults, who are at the greatest risk from Covid, the gap is wider still; 73% of people 65 and older have received a flu shot, but only 41% have taken the Covid booster.
Why the disparity? Americans who regularly get a flu shot are just the type of people you’d expect would routinely get vaccinated against Covid. Yet as the statistics reveal, even many of them appear to have declined the latest booster.
It’s not clear that a single definitive answer exists; in fact there is likely a combination of explanations, say people who study vaccine acceptance and vaccine hesitancy. They see this group as both a missed opportunity and as a cohort that could be swayed.
Jason Schwartz, an associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health, called people who get vaccinated against flu “the lowest hanging fruit for increasing Covid vaccine uptake.”
“These are people who are signaling right by their very actions that they are supportive of vaccines generally and that they’re supportive of the idea of an annual vaccination effort, even [with] a vaccine that is known to be less than perfect,” said Schwartz, who specializes in vaccine policy. “And the fact that those individuals are in some sense voting with their feet by … passing on Covid is a real warning sign above and beyond all the other issues these vaccination efforts face.”
The experts with whom STAT spoke about this issue expressed little surprise at the chasm between flu vaccine and Covid vaccine acceptance rates. While there are a striking number of similarities between the two vaccines — similarities health authorities might be advised to highlight more in their promotional efforts for Covid shots, some experts say — there are also intractable differences.
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Rachel Carter is a health and wellness expert dedicated to helping readers lead healthier lives. With a background in nutrition, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being.
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