Only 2% of Americans Have Gotten Updated Coronavirus Booster Shot

Jatniel Hernandez fills syringes with COID-19 vaccine booster shots at a COVID-19 vaccinat
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Olivia Rondeau

About 7 million Americans have received the updated versions of the coronavirus vaccines, compared to the 56.5 million people who received last year’s version.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data shows that the major vaccine manufacturers, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, have gotten their updated shots out to about 2 percent of the population as of Wednesday,  Reuters reported.

These updated vaccinations are “single-target shots aimed at coronavirus’s XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant of the coronavirus, which was the dominant variant in the U.S. for much of this year but has since been overtaken as the virus continues to evolve,” the outlet noted.

Another COVID vaccine manufacturer, Novavax, also has millions of doses on the way  after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the shot last week for emergency use in ages 12 years or older.

According to the FDA, the updated vaccine “addresses currently circulating variants to provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.”

While millions of Americans who received coronavirus vaccines last year have not yet opted to get the current ones formulated for “better protection,” debates about the shots’ efficacy have made rounds in pop culture.

On Tuesday, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers challenged Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs to a debate on the vaccine a week after joking that the tight end is “Mr. Pfizer” for doing an advertisement for the pharmaceutical company. 

During his appearance on the Pat McAfee show, Rodgers proposed that a debate be held between him and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. against Kelce and Anthony Fauci.

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