North Carolinians are slow to get COVID boosters - Axios RaleighLog InLog InAxios Raleigh is an Axios company.

North Carolinians are slow to get COVID boosters

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios North Carolina residents — and most people across the U.S. — do not appear to be in a hurry to get the new omicron variant boosters, a potentially worrying update as the winter months approach. That's despite the fact that the vaccine, which is the first one to be tailor-made for a strain of the virus actually in circulation, Omicron BA.5, is producing a . The low turnout might be because people don't even know about it. Half of adults had heard little to nothing about the new boosters at the end of last month, . What's happening: So far 437,227 people in North Carolina — or around 4.1% of the state's population — have gotten the new booster, which is specifically designed to target the prevailing omicron substrains of the coronavirus. The boosters, from Pfizer and Moderna, were authorized in August. This week, they were also approved for children as young as five, . What they're saying: David Wohl, an infectious disease specialist at UNC Health, said he believes a low interest in the boosters is a failure for governments and public health officials. Americans should be seeing messages about the effectiveness of boosters everywhere, he said. "For some reason that I don't understand," he said, "they are mired in an amber of delay and inability to get messages out that are clear and consistent and exciting to people. And that really is a failing since the beginning of the pandemic." Why it matters: Cases will most certainly increase this upcoming winter, Wohl said. Boosters help prevent negative outcomes from the disease. Getting the booster "is about: Do you want to miss five days of work? Do you want to get ?" Wohl said. Zoom out: More than 11,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 in the past 30 days, according to . Get more local stories in your inbox with .Subscribe Support local journalism by becoming a member.

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