Federal officials have spent the past year urging Americans to get booster shots to bolster their protection against the coronavirus, which wanes over time.
Joe Gonzales, 37, said he knows there's still a risk of contracting covid - he believes he was infected with the virus this summer. But after getting two doses of the vaccine, the Flower Mound, Tex., man doesn't understand why he needs the third and fourth "booster" shots urged by federal health officials.
"We have got to explain the value of these vaccines for the American people . . . [and] why this is probably the single most important health intervention they can make right now to protect themselves and their health for the next three to six months," Ashish Jha, the White House's coronavirus coordinator, said in an interview.
The lagging booster rate is also blamed as a major contributor to the high covid mortality rate last winter and the continuing deaths of more than 400 Americans on average per day linked to the virus, according to The Washington Post's coronavirus tracker. An analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group, forecasts that more than 75,000 lives might be needlessly lost if the fall booster campaign comes up short.
Some public health experts outside the government, meanwhile, argued two doses of vaccine were sufficient to protect most people. Jha acknowledged missteps last year, blaming "a group of public health people who I think unduly expressed skepticism." But there is scant evidence such a campaign will win over holdouts, with many Americans fatigued by covid messages, doubtful about the threat and having reached their own conclusions about how best to navigate a persistent pandemic. Forty-six percent of respondents to an Axios-Ipsos poll last month said they had returned to their pre-pandemic activities, the highest percentage since the poll began in January 2021.
"I don't know that people are necessarily listening to the messages of the government," said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, which represents public health agencies around the country. "Maybe it's time to bring in some other folks or messengers that may be more effective."
Others say they intend to get the shots, but are putting them off because of recent infections or boosters. "Students must be compliant with all vaccine requirements in order to register for the spring term," Harvard University announced in September. "This includes the annual flu shot as well as the bivalent Omicron-specific COVID-19 booster."
"I just don't think we have any evidence that it's better," Offit said, pointing to a New England Journal of Medicine study that he said "shows underwhelming evidence" for it.
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