Los Angeles [US], August 27: Only half of booster-eligible adults in the United States have gotten a COVID-19 booster shot, and only 34 percent of adults ages 50 years and older have gotten a second booster, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About 77 percent of adults over age 18 years have received a primary series at this point. However, 49.9 percent of the total booster-eligible population has not yet received a booster dose, according to a CDC report published on Friday.
Overall, about 262.6 million people, or 79.1 percent of the total U.S. population, have received at least one dose of vaccine. About 223.9 million people, or 67.4 percent of the total U.S. population, have been fully vaccinated, CDC data showed.
Vaccine effectiveness can decrease over time, but boosters restore protection, including against serious illness, said the CDC.
The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows that in June 2022, people ages 50 years and older with two booster doses were 14 times less likely to die from COVID-19 than unvaccinated people of the same age, and three times less likely to die than vaccinated people of the same age with at least one booster.
Source: Xinhua