Why are so few people getting the latest Covid-19 vaccine?

by Dylan Scott from VOX

The Covid-19 vaccines were hailed as a miracle upon their arrival. They were delivered earlier than anyone thought possible and proved exceptionally effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. More than 80 percent of all Americans, and more than 90 percent of adults, received at least one dose of the vaccines, remarkable penetration in a country where less than half of people get their flu shot every year.

But so far this year, just 14 percent of adults have received a dose of the new vaccine formulation that became available in September — compared to 28 percent who have gotten a flu shot.

This raises a question that would have seemed unthinkable three years ago: What if we make a miraculous vaccine and nobody wants it?

Ever since that first shot, the public’s interest in subsequent Covid-19 vaccines has been steadily dropping. Less than 70 percent of the US finished their initial two-dose vaccine series. Less than 20 percent of the country received last year’s bivalent booster shot.

Experts say the public’s disinterest in the latest Covid shots is likely a combination of poor messaging from authorities, a diminishing fear about a virus that three years ago was wholly unknown, and the political polarization of the pandemic itself. But whatever the reasons, that vaccine ambivalence still poses a health threat...

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