Few eligible NC adults have received second COVID-19 booster, according to state data
.jpg "FILE - Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine sit in a cooler before being thawed at a vaccination site in New York. NC DHHS officials say only 12% of those eligible have received a second booster shot. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)")
Only a small fraction of eligible adults have received their second COVID-19 booster dose in North Carolina, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.
About 12% of North Carolinians older than 50 have been double boosted, a statistic that is particularly worrisome as the state faces an impending surge fueled by omicron variant BA.2.
In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended second booster doses for adults older than 50 and those immunocompromised older than 12. Adults who received the one-dose J&J series and a booster are also eligible for a second booster.
Studies have shown that immunity generated from a COVID-19 vaccine wanes in a matter of months. Dr. Cameron Wolfe, infectious disease specialist at Duke Health said that decline happens faster in older adults.
As adults age, their bodies get worse at using immune cells, called T-cells, to remember viruses they have been previously exposed to. The result is a “forgetful” immune system that needs more frequent vaccines to bolster protection.
Wolfe said the immune response doesn’t forget everything its learned from vaccines— unboosted, vaccinated older adults are still far less likely than their unvaccinated counterparts to end up in the hospital.
The added benefit of receiving the second booster is less than that of the first vaccine dose many received in 2021.
“It’s probably true to say that the second booster is very much about the convenience of not wanting a break-through infection to derail what we’re doing, or for you to go on and infect someone else,” he said.
Still, the added protection is important when COVID-19 is spreading so rampantly in the Triangle. All counties in the Triangle either have medium or high levels of community transmission, according to metrics from the CDC. Wolfe said the number of older adults without their second booster who need to be hospitalized for COVID-19 has been steadily rising as well.
“What’s occurring is you’re at the junction of reducing antibody levels and just a ton of COVID,” he said. “It’s both of those things together that add up.”
Researchers don’t know precisely how much second-boosters reduce hospitalizations — too few people have received their second boosters for them to run an analysis. Wolfe said the first booster dose offered a significant reduction and most researchers expect the second booster to do the same.
He said the booster also dramatically reduces the risk of infection in the first place. Second boosters won’t completely eliminate breakthrough infections, Wolfe said.
“But it occurs a hell of a lot less frequently than the people who hadn’t had that second dose,” he said.
Wolfe said he thinks the low interest in second boosters is partly COVID-19 fatigue and partly a fatigue with constantly changing vaccine recommendations.
“It’s very hard for me to sit back now and say what someone’s booster schedule will be in six to 12 months because I don’t know those factors yet,” he said.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Few eligible NC adults have received second COVID-19 booster, according to state data."
