Updated COVID-19 booster shots are now available for the youngest children in California and other states, a welcome development for officials hoping to augment vaccine coverage and head off a viral resurgence this winter.
Availability and uptake, however, are two different things. And given the meager vaccination rate among youngsters under 5, as well as modest overall demand for the new bivalent doses, it remains to be seen whether this latest expansion of eligibility will significantly increase the number of shots given.
A constraint at the outset is that most children in this age range have yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19 at all.
