Patient group calls for more regular scheduling of recurring COVID-19 boosters to encourage vaccinations

Patient group calls for recurring COVID-19 boosters to cut through vaccine apathy The nonprofit ECRI said adopting a booster shot schedule targeting emerging variants would create certainty and convince more Americans to get shots. YahooNews

Fewer than one in three Americans have received an extra shot of the COVID-19 vaccine and one patient safety group thinks that's a public health challenge.

The nonprofit ECRI said in a position paper that adopting a booster shot schedule targeting emerging variants would create certainty and convince more Americans to get boosted and help reduce COVID-19 spread in communities.

“This is the call to action,” said Marcus Schabacker, president and CEO of ECRI, a patient safety nonprofit. “Only 30% of people who are eligible to get vaccinated actually have a booster. It's not enough if we want to get this (pandemic) into an endemic state.”

Federal health agencies have cleared vaccine boosters for adults and teens, and last week, for kids ages 5 to 11. The FDA is reviewing Moderna’s vaccine for younger children. Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday said its COVID-19 vaccine appears to be safe and effective for kids under 5.

Federal health officials authorized a second booster shot for adults over 50 and immunocompromised people over 12.

Schabacker argues the trickling of booster recommendations has left the public confused and skeptical about when or whether people should get another shot beyond the first two doses. Cases are again on the rise even though hospitalizations have not significantly increased.

He believes the initial expectation the first two doses would prevent most cases is partly to blame for so many adults choosing to skip the extra shots. As more people see vaccinated friends and family get infected with breakthrough cases as omicron variants circulate, "people are skeptical" about the need for an extra shot, he said.

"What is lost in the translation is it's keeping you out of the hospital. It's keeping you from dying," Schabacker said.

If the vaccine booster became routine like annual flu shots, he believes more people would be willing to take the extra COVID-19 jab. People know the flu vaccine is recommended each year at the beginning of the fall with the possibility of a booster shot during particularly bad flu seasons. ...