The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the new bivalent booster that protects against two versions of Covid-19, and Linda was paying attention. She reserved an appointment at a drugstore near her house.
Ms. Brantman has dealt with asthma for years and keeps an inhaler handy even for a cold. She said she would have breathing problems if she were sick. She got the latest booster within two weeks of the C.D.C. announcement, and public health officials hope all Americans over 5 will do the same.
Alan Turner is 65 years old and retired from an industrial design firm. After the first booster, he stopped updating his immunity. He said that he had become such a quiet person. I haven't gotten around to it because I have no contact with anyone. I don't think there's a need I'm trying to get my work done.
Data from the C.D.C. shows that Americans over the age of 65 are less interested in keeping up with their vaccinations than they were a few years ago. Only about 44 percent of the people have received the second booster.
The New York Times vaccine tracker shows that younger people are less likely to get booster shots than older people. Three-quarters of the nation's 1.1 million deaths are due to seniors who are more vulnerable to the virus.
According to Mollyann Brodie, the executive director of public opinion at Kaiser Family Foundation, older people have been the first to get the vaccine and the first to get the first round of boosters.
Only 8 percent of seniors said they had received the updated bivalent booster, and 37 percent said they intended to get it as soon as possible, according to the most recent vaccine monitor survey. As a group, older adults were better informed than younger respondents, but almost 40 percent said they hadn't heard anything about the vaccine, and many were unsure if the C.D.C. had recommended it for them.
If two months have passed since the last vaccine or booster, the C.D.C. recommends that people over the age of 5 receive the bivalent vaccine, which is effective against the original strain of Covid-19.
Anne N.Sosin is a public health researcher at the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences. She said that older people are entering the winter with less protection than in the past.
According to Ms. Sosin, older Americans have a number of reasons to be on guard. Their immunity from previous vaccinations may have waned, as well as public testing and vaccination sites shutting down.
Ms. Sosin said that older adults would stay at home or test when they went out. They face more exposure because they have resumed their prep andemic activities.
She said that many are no longer worried about Covid.
There are public opinion polls that show that. Improved treatments for Covid infections may make it less dangerous.
The number of deaths in this age group doubled from April to July due to the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant Last month deaths began to decline.
William Schaffner said that the risk of Covid is reduced for older people. You can't ignore it. It can't be put in the mirror.
Older people are more at risk of contracting the virus. Dr. Schaffner said that the immune systems of people get weaker as they get older. They have underlying conditions that increase their risks, including heart and lung disease.
He said that you could be at risk for a more serious outcome if you become infectious. There's more reason to protect yourself.
Studies show that vaccinations and boosters protect against serious illness, but immunity fades over time. The data is solid, according to Dr. Schaffner.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, vaccination and boosters resulted in 650,000 fewer hospitalizations for Covid and had saved 300,000 lives.
In nursing homes, where the early months of the Pandemic had a devastating toll, the booster take-up has been stagnant.
The percentage of nursing home residents who received one or more boosters ranged from 59 percent in Arizona to 92 percent in Vermont. Only about half of nursing home staff nationwide had received a booster, and only one-third had done so in Missouri, Alabama and Mississippi.
The federal mandate that requires nursing home staff to be vaccine free is still in place. The federal on-site vaccine campaign for nursing home residents was effective, but not repeated for booster shots.
Ms. Chidambaram said that the push ended. The federal government stopped pedaling.
Older adults who don't live in a nursing home may be homebound or unable to travel to the pharmacy. Their sense of importance seems to have waned. Ms. Sosin said that most older people werevaccinated They weren't against or hesitant. She said that boosters aren't very motivated and haven't been given a reason to be There is a sense of 'Why bother'.
A number of public health experts are now urging a full-scale crusade, including mass-media campaigns, social media and digital communication, pop-up and drive-through sites, mobile vans, and home visits, to raise the vaccine rate among seniors and everyone else.
Ms. Sosin said that they had never seen an all hands on deck approach to booster delivery. We should be giving people information to make them feel better.
Many of these ideas have been included in the Biden administration's fall Covid plan. According to Dr. Schaffner, it did not spell out details or take a more aggressive approach.
Ms. Sosin wasn't as sure. She said that she wasn't seeing elements of the plan come to fruition. The number of people getting boosters isn't reflected in the numbers.
People can help in this effort. Kaiser surveys show that doctors and other health care professionals are trusted sources of information for the older population.
Four in 10 older adults don't know there's a new booster and that's a lot of opportunity to make an impact
Kaiser studies show that family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors can help increase vaccinations.
Asking your parents or grandparents about the new booster can make a big difference for those on the fence.
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