FRIDAY, Oct. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Fewer Americans are rolling up their sleeves for the updated COVID-19 shot, leading health experts to call for a stepped-up vaccination campaign. Only 7 percent of adults and 2 percent of children in the United States have received the new vaccine, a nationwide survey conducted two weeks ago revealed.
Experts expressed dismay at the numbers — which were presented Thursday at a meeting held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the Associated Press. But uptake may stay low. Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents said they “probably” or “definitely would not” get the shot. A similar percentage of parents said they did not plan to vaccinate their children.
At the meeting, Camille Kotton, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, called the numbers “abysmal,” and urged stepped-up efforts to educate the public about the boosters. Kotton said patients may be confused, the AP reported. The new shot is just the latest that Americans have been asked to get over the past 2-1/2 years to fight COVID-19.
The new vaccine targets a highly contagious descendant of the omicron variant dubbed XBB.1.5, the AP reported.
The government recently transitioned to a commercialized system that relied on the health care industry — not the government — to distribute the shots, AP noted. Some Americans who quickly sought shots said doctors and pharmacies did not have them.
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