COVID booster demand expected to be low without mandates: Expert.
Many Americans Unlikely to Opt for COVID Booster Shot, Expert Says
According to Dr. Kevin Bass, a medical researcher and immunology specialist, many Americans are likely to refuse the new COVID booster shot unless it is mandated. Negative health outcomes associated with the vaccines and a loss of confidence in public officials have contributed to this hesitancy.
“Public opinion has swung so hard against the vaccines that I can’t imagine a scenario where a significant amount of people are going to sign up for another shot,” Dr. Bass told The Epoch Times. “If people have the choice, they are going to say no.”
The original COVID vaccines were initially embraced by over 80 percent of Americans based on promises of effectiveness in preventing contraction and halting the spread of the virus. However, when it became evident that the vaccines did not deliver as expected, interest in subsequent booster shots plummeted. In fact, during the fall of 2022, only 17 percent of Americans chose to receive the new booster.
Vaccine hesitancy can also be attributed to widespread reports of negative health outcomes associated with the shots. According to the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database, COVID vaccines have been implicated in over 1.5 million adverse event reports. However, this number may be significantly higher. A study funded by the FDA and conducted by Harvard found that VAERS cases represent less than 1 percent of actual vaccine adverse events (pdf).
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) V-safe website abruptly stopped collecting adverse event reports without any explanation. As of Wednesday morning, the V-safe website states: “Thank you for your participation. Data collection for COVID-19 vaccines concluded on June 30, 2023.”
Consequently, confidence in health officials has dropped from 44 percent to 34 percent over the past two years, according to a Gallup tracking poll (source).
There are also concerns about the effectiveness of the new booster against emerging variants. While the booster is designed to combat the current COVID strains, it remains uncertain whether these strains will remain dominant or if a new variant immune to the booster, like the one circulating in Michigan, will emerge.
Dr. Bass reassures that overall, COVID cases remain significantly lower than in previous years.
“Right now COVID cases are going up a little bit, but they are still barely a blip in terms of mortality,” said Dr. Bass. “It is still a possibility that we will get a wave at some point, but pretty unlikely.”
However, President Joe Biden recently stated that his administration will “likely” recommend the new COVID-19 vaccine for everyone, regardless of prior vaccination status.
“I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress, a request for additional funding for a new vaccine—that is necessary, that works,” he said during a press conference in South Lake Tahoe, California. “And tentatively, not decided finally yet, tentatively it is recommended—it is likely to be recommended—that everybody get it, no matter whether they got it before.”
In April, the Biden administration announced a $5 billion investment in the development of new COVID vaccines through Project NextGen.
“While our vaccines are still effective at preventing serious illness and death, their ability to reduce infections and transmission over time has diminished,” stated a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Human Services when announcing the project on April 10.
The CDC is scheduled to convene on September 12, where a strong recommendation for the new booster is expected to be issued.
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