, Columnist
More Covid Boosters Are Coming, But Who Will Take Them?
Vaccine uptake has waned. Public health officials should follow research-backed strategies to get Americans back on track.
Take me.
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Once a week, typically on the day that the Centers for Disease Control updates its Covid data tracker, I send my dad a text: “Did you make an appointment to get your booster?”
Yes, I’m a nudge. But the data for people his age are unambiguous: A second booster helps keep them alive and out of the hospital. Each new variant of omicron, currently the worrisomely contagious BA.5, provides fresh kindling for infections. And even though fewer people are dying these days compared with earlier waves, hospitalization rates are ticking up — most dramatically among people 70 and older.