Oct. 24, 2022 – President Joe Biden will again roll up his sleeve on Tuesday and receive his updated COVID-19 booster.
Updated boosters first became available in September, and Biden appears to have followed the CDC optional guidance of waiting 3 months since infection to get a booster. The president was diagnosed with the virus twice this year – first in July, and then again 3 days after completing his isolation period and receiving antiviral treatment.
Biden, who is 1 month away from turning 80 years old, is among the age group that health officials are most hoping to persuade to boost up against COVID-19 before an expected uptick in cases later this year. Seniors are at high risk for severe illness and death from the virus.
“People 65 and older account for 16% of the total U.S. population, but 75% of all COVID deaths to date,” a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis stated. “Vaccinations, boosters and treatments have led to a substantial decline in severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, but with booster uptake lagging, deaths for older adults rose again during the summer of 2022.”
The CDC recommends that anyone age 5 and older get the most recently released booster shot, called a “bivalent” booster because it targets the original virus and several Omicron strains.
While 93% of seniors ages 65 and older completed a primary vaccine series, 72% of those who were initially vaccinated got a first booster, and far fewer of them – 48% – got a second booster, according to CDC data.
The Kaiser researchers found this trend concerning.
“Though the uptake in boosters among people 65 and older has been much higher than among people under 65 and they are more likely to say they will get the new booster as soon as possible, booster uptake still remains relatively low compared to primary vaccination among older adults,” authors of the Kaiser analysis stated. “This, combined with the rise in deaths among adults 65 and older over the summer, raises questions about whether more can be done to encourage older adults to stay up to date on their vaccinations.”
