There is a visibility problem with the new Covid booster, which protects against Omicron and its subvariants.
According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, almost half of adults had heard little or nothing about the vaccine after it was approved by federal authorities.
It could have troubling implications. The booster is being promoted by the Biden administration as a way to ward off a new outbreak of the virus.
Drew Altman is the president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. It's not surprising that most are only dimly aware of it. Early on, older people may be more interested in the new booster than the younger ones.
A nationally representative sample of 1,534 adults were surveyed over the course of a few days.
The most compliant with getting the vaccine have been people over the age of 65. The survey found that they displayed the broadest awareness of the new booster, with almost half reporting that they have already received the new dose or aim to get it as soon as possible. More than a third of adults said they would get it soon.
According to the survey, there was a lot of confusion over eligibility.
The new booster made by Pfizer and BioNTech was approved by the FDA for people as young as 12 years old. Forty-three percent of adults 30 and under said they didn't know if the dose had been approved for them, and 19 percent said they didn't know.
According to Dr. Mary Politi, a professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences at the Washington University School of Medicine, Americans have been experiencing Covid information overload and decision making fatigue. Keeping information simple, clear and consistent is one way to overcome both.
She said, "Unfortunately, the information coming from various sources has often been conflicting, with unclear or changing guidelines."
Older adults were more aware of their eligibility status. More than half of those over the age of 65 knew the booster was recommended.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages people over the age of 12 to get the updated booster, but not everyone should.
The report found that there had been a small increase in vaccinations among the youngest children since emergency authorization for Covid vaccines for those between six months and 4 years old was granted. Only 7 percent of parents said they intended to get their children vaccinations, but that percentage has gone up to 19 percent.
More parents are rejecting the vaccine for their kids. 53 percent of parents of children between 6 months and 4 years say they won't let their child get the shots. 26 percent held that view a year ago.
About 30 percent of parents with children in that age group said their children wouldn't get the Covid vaccine, even though 60 percent of parents said their children had been vaccined.
77 percent of respondents said they had gotten at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, with half of them saying they had received at least one booster. Nearly all of that group said they wouldn't get it.
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