Survey indicates resistance to COVID booster shots affected by prior infections, fear of side effects and doubts about usefullness

COVID booster uptake hindered by prior infections, fear of side effects Ratana21/iStock CIDRAP

Only 20% of Americans eligible for COVID-19 boosters get them, and today in Vaccine, researchers published the results of a new survey of 2,000 US adults to understand why uptake is so low.

Among the 559 respondents who said they did not get a booster, 39.5% said they did not need one as they had already been infected by SARS-CoV-2 at least once, and 31.5% said they worried about side effects.

The third most common reasons cited for not getting a booster, by 28.6% of participants, was respondents' disbelief that a booster would add more protection over the vaccines they have already had.