Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The drive to get more people boosted for COVID-19 across the United States appears to be stalling out.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 40% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose for COVID-19. Meanwhile, the average number of booster shots dispensed per-day in the United States has plummeted from a peak of one million in early December to about 490,000 as of last week.
Overall, more than 13 months after the campaign for vaccination began in the U.S., just 63% of Americans are fully vaccinated with the initial rounds of shots.
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So why have the numbers for vaccination boosters across the country starting to slow down?
"I think people don't appreciate the benefit of getting boosted," said Dr. Thomas Russo from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. "[If you are] over 50 or if you're immunocompromised, getting that booster shot is absolutely critical. It is going to significantly decrease the likelihood that you develop severe disease and bad outcomes.
"Younger, healthier individuals that have gotten two shots say, 'Hey, Why do I bother getting boosted? I'm in good shape. The likelihood of me developing more severe diseases is a very low number.' Though the data is not quite as clear for that group, there's probably still going to be a small, but beneficial effect, in terms of decreasing severe disease and hospitalizations even in that group. Probably more importantly to that group, if they get boosted, it'll unquestionably decrease the likelihood they get infected. That, in turn, will break the transmission chain, because if they expose individuals that are more vulnerable or at risk, obviously that indirectly will translate into bad outcomes."
COVID-19 numbers in New York State and Western New York have continued to take a downward trend. In Erie County alone, case numbers and hospitalization numbers have been on the decline, with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz saying the belief is the county has peaked with the Omicron variant.
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While the stats regarding COVID-19 continue to trend in a positive manner, that doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet.
"At this point, even though we're looking good, we're not ready to declare victory yet," Dr. Russo said. "We need to continue to be rigorous doing all those things we know that will minimize the likelihood of individuals getting infected, because eventually that will translate into hospitalizations and bad outcomes for those that are at highest risk."
Dr. Russo says a key factor to getting on the right side of the Omicron variant and coming closer to an end of the pandemic will be getting more people vaccinated and receiving their booster shots. He believes the more people get vaccinated for COVID-19, the better the chances it will optimize immunity in the community.
"When you get infected, all bets are off, particularly if you're unvaccinated or if you're immunocompromised, or one of our older seniors or individuals with underlying diseases. So boosters and vaccinations for the unvaccinated are really a way to try to bring this home and get on the other side of this Omicron wave," he said.
"I think this is critically important at this time, since we still have a large community burden of disease with Omicron. Unfortunately, we still have a number of individuals that are unvaccinated, and they're the ones that are at significant risk for developing severe disease. So the booster shots, unquestionably, are beneficial, more so for certain groups than others."
You can listen to our entire conversation with Dr. Russo below:
