Booster uptake could be stronger as data shows significantly increased risk of death amongst non-vaccinated over-50s compared to boosted counterparts.
That's despite the fact that unvaccinated U.S. adults aged 50 or older were 14 times more at risk of dying from COVID than those who had two or more booster shots as of June, according to another new CDC dataset.
The CDC recommended a COVID booster vaccine—an extra shot to boost immunity in people who had already been fully vaccinated against COVID—in some populations in September 2021. Access was further expanded to other populations before a recommendation for a second booster dose in March this year. While 77.2 percent of the U.S. population aged 18 or over have completed their initial COVID vaccine courses—two shots of theor Moderna vaccines or one of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine—just 51.5 percent got their first booster dose, according to CDC data.
This month's booster data also shows that infection rates were also significantly higher in unvaccinated people than in those who had been vaccinated.