The Biden-Harris administration wants Americans to roll up their sleeves for the new COVID-19 shot but many Americans fear the coronavirus less than the flu, portending another lackluster fall campaign.
The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized shots from Pfizer and Moderna that target the KP.2 strain, which is circulating now.
“Given waning immunity of the population from previous exposure to the virus and from prior vaccination, we strongly encourage those who are eligible to consider receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine to provide better protection against currently circulating variants,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, on Thursday.
Yet only 22.5% of U.S. adults got the updated shot for the 2023-2024 season compared to nearly half of adults, or 48.5%, who showed up for a flu shot, according to federal data last updated in May.
Some healthy persons who snapped up shots early in the pandemic no longer see the need to update their protection with yearly shots. They’re leery of repeated injections of a vaccine that, studies show, offers limited protection against outright infection, even if it guards against severe disease.
“It is likely that interest in COVID vaccination has significantly waned over time, as evidenced by the past updated vaccine rollouts. There likely will be higher interest, which is appropriate, among high-risk individuals who will benefit the most,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Federal regulators told drugmakers to update their COVID-19 shots for variants starting in 2022 when it became clear that the first versions of the vaccine didn’t adequately match the circulating virus.
There are some signs that demand could increase — slightly — this year.
Dr. Adalja said this season’s shots should be a better match for what is circulating than the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 editions, which might drive up some interest.
The latest Axios/Ipsos American Health Index, released Aug. 22, found roughly a third of Americans (32%) consider contracting COVID-19 to be a large or moderate risk to their health. That’s up from 27% who felt that way in June, likely driven by a summer surge in coronavirus infections.
Still, the rate of fear matches Americans’ concerns about catching the flu or respiratory syncytial virus, underscoring how COVID-19 is now considered yet another seasonal virus that can be managed.
Likewise, the Biden-Harris administration launched a vaccine campaign this month that effectively treats the coronavirus, flu and RSV as equals.
“The CDC is promoting this fall season as a time to protect ourselves against respiratory viruses, plural — the very bad viruses of winter,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University. “They’re trying to make this routine and letting everybody know, of course, these viruses change and so we update them each year.”
The Department of Health and Human Services’s campaign is titled “Risk Less. Do More,” and will feature social media and digital ads and will highlight the benefits of getting vaccinated for the trifecta of viruses. It will prioritize audiences at high risk from the virus, such as adults aged 60 and older and persons living in long-term care facilities.
“Vaccines for COVID-19, flu, and RSV have helped to save millions of lives, keep countless people out of the hospital, and provided peace of mind for the country. As fall approaches and people spend more time indoors, I encourage everyone to protect themselves and their loved ones by getting vaccinated,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said.
Only 3% of Americans viewed COVID-19 as the number-one health threat in the Axios/IPSOS index, compared to 20% of Americans who see fentanyl/opioids as the top threat, or 19% who cited obesity.
It’s a far cry from the height of the COVID-19 crisis when people rushed to drive-in centers to get the first edition of the shots.
Nearly seven in 10 Americans received a two-dose primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine. Additional shots have been a tougher sell, with closer to one in five Americans showing up for extra shots in subsequent years.
President Biden, who often takes credit for getting the country beyond the pandemic, got the latest COVID-19 shot last year but did it in private without cameras present. His administration likes to call the yearly COVID-19 vaccine an “updated” shot instead of a “booster,” so people see it as an annual rite instead of a running tally of shots.
The administration declared an end to the public health emergency around COVID-19 in early 2023 and, today, there are fewer federal sources to support COVID-19 immunization.
During the acute pandemic period, local health departments sent vaccination teams to people who weren’t able to leave their homes, or contracted with big pharmacies to send shots into nursing homes.
“That money has dried up,” Dr. Schaffner said. “We’re all having to do it the way we do influenza vaccines. We’re having to do it ourselves.”
He said if American society wants everyone to benefit from life-saving shots, it should help needy persons who don’t have health insurance or other resources.
“We have these powerful comprehensive recommendations for vaccines for all,” he said, but people cannot take advantage of them “unless we have money in the pocket.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.