Should everyone eligible get the new omicron-specific COVID booster? Yes, absolutely. But we should not get lulled into the illusion that the fight against COVID is over and now comparable to preventing the flu.
The deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. this year make the case for boosters: Although unvaccinated people remain the majority of deaths, the proportion of vaccinated individuals dying in America has increased (42% of deaths last January and February, compared with 23% in September 2021).
Vaccinated patients who die have disproportionately been those 75 and older who have not received a booster; 75% of vaccinated seniors in California who died in January and February this year weren’t boosted. In San Francisco, when talking to families of vaccinated individuals who died, I’ve often learned that the patient rushed to get their first two shots after the vaccine was authorized in December 2020 but had not received a booster despite third shots being greenlit last fall.
