As far as pandemic public health measures go, the 2022-2023 holiday season hasn't been much of an improvement on 2021. Cases are surging across most of the US, and the triple threat of COVID-19, RSV, and the flu threatens to overwhelm parts of the health care system. In response, the CDC and President Biden are urging Americans to get the new bivalent booster shot, which provides better protection than the original against newer strains of COVID-19 like the BA.5 omicron subvariant.
But all this advice seems to be falling on deaf ears. As of January 6th, only about 18% of American adults had received the bivalent booster — a dismal rate compared to the 79% who are fully vaccinated and eligible. With cases rising just when most people traveled to see their loved ones, why is uptake of the booster so low and how can we improve it?
