Fewer health care workers are getting the most recent COVID-19 booster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Findings from a new survey<\/u><\/a> by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show 15.3 percent of the roughly 8 million health care workers in hospitals have gotten the most recent COVID-19 booster for the 2023-24 respiratory virus season<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Coverage was lowest \u2014 at 12.7 percent \u2014 among licensed independent practitioners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vaccination coverage was even lower among nursing home health workers. The survey found that just 10.5 percent of the country\u2019s 1.8 million nursing home personnel received the most recent COVID-19 booster during the 2023-24 respiratory illness season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Health care workers in both spaces had higher vaccination coverage during last year\u2019s respiratory virus season, according to the CDC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the 2022-23 respiratory virus season, 17.8 percent and 22.8 percent of health care workers in hospitals and nursing homes had received a COVID-19 booster, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The decline in vaccination rates comes after the Biden administration ended its mandated COVID-19 vaccination requirement in May 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of this, COVID-19 vaccines were also commercialized in the fall of that year, potentially increasing costs for facilities and health care personnel, according to the agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese two events might have affected vaccination campaigns and on-site access to COVID-19 vaccines in nursing homes,\u201d the CDC wrote in an analysis of the survey data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But a recent survey of health care workers found that while many personnel believe that COVID-19 is a serious health threat, few health care workers have confidence in the \u201ceffectiveness, safety, and benefit\u201d of the COVID-19 vaccination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n