ALL TIME LOW: FEWEST COVID-19 VACCINE DOSES ADMINISTERED since pandemic start
Photo by Steven Cornfield via Unsplash
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by TERRENCE FRASER | April 18, 2023
This month’s key takeaways:
In March, the federal government distributed fewer COVID-19 vaccines to states for the sixth consecutive month.
U.S. residents received about 1.6 million vaccine shots in March, marking both a six-month decline and an all-time low in monthly vaccine administration.
Over one million bivalent booster shots were administered in March, a drop of more than 2 million shots compared to January.
Five percent of toddlers under 5 were fully vaccinated by the end of March—a sluggish uptake since the beginning of the year.
Asian Americans continue to be the racial or ethnic group most likely to have received bivalent shots.
How quickly are doses being distributed to states?
According to the CDC, the U.S. federal government has distributed 977 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to U.S. states, districts and territories over the course of the pandemic.
For the approximate month of March (from March 2 to March 29), the federal government distributed 8.1 million doses to states. That’s an average of about 290,000 shots being distributed per day during this period.
In March, the federal government gave out 10 thousand fewer doses to states each day as compared to February, marking a six month decline in overall vaccine distribution efforts.
Due to changes in CDC data reporting, data on the number of vaccines distributed to states by the federal government can no longer be calculated for an entire calendar month. APM Research Lab use approximates dates to achieve a close measurement for monthly vaccine distribution. All other data points, such as vaccine administration, can be calculated for the full calendar month.
How quickly are U.S. residents getting vaccinated?
Sixty-nine percent of the U.S. population has completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations (in adults the primary series is two shots of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine).
In seven states—Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Hawaii—and Washington, D.C., at least 80% of the population has completed their initial series. Less than 60% of the population is fully vaccinated in 14 states, including Wyoming, Alabama and Mississippi at the bottom of the list.
In March, 207,000 U.S. residents completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations. This figure is about equal to the number of U.S. residents who did so in February.
Overall, U.S. residents received over 300,000 fewer COVID-19 shots in March than in February and over 2.5 million fewer shots compared to January. This represents a five-month decline in COVID-19 vaccine doses administered.
Read more: How are politics related to vaccination progress in the U.S.
How many Americans have received a booster shot?
Booster shots help extend the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing infection outright or severe infection in breakthrough cases.
On Aug. 31, 2022, the FDA issued emergency authorization for the new bivalent formula of the COVID-19 booster, which protects against the original strain of SARS-Cov-2 virus and against the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains. However, BA.4 and BA.5 are no longer circulating widely and a newer “Kraken” omicron variant (XBB.1.5) is now the most dominant strain of the SARS-COV-2 virus according to CDC variant data.
On Oct. 12, the CDC also approved the updated bivalent booster for those 5 to 11. These approvals had the effect of opening a new round of booster shot eligibility to everyone in the U.S. age 5 or older. On Dec 9, CDC again expanded the use of the updated bivalent shot to children 6 months to 5 years old.
Late last year, Pfizer and Moderna released data showing their newer bivalent formulations to be safe and effective. According to an article in Yale Medicine, data released in January by the New England Journal of Medicine showed bivalent doses to be more than 2x more effective at reducing hospitalizations and preventing infections than the original monovalent formulas.
As of April 17, over 55.5 million U.S. residents five years of age and older have received the updated bivalent shot since it first became available. However, only 1.2 million received a bivalent dose in March. That’s 300,000 fewer updated doses administered to U.S. residents as compared to February.
How does vaccination progress break down by age?
By the end of March 2023, about 35% of all children ages 17 and younger have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations. This represents 26 million youth in the U.S. Among 18-to-39-year-olds, 69% have completed their primary series, representing 68 million vaccinated persons. Eighty-one percent of those between the ages of 40 and 64 years (84.6 million U.S. residents), and 94% of individuals ages 65 and older (51.7 million persons) have also completed their primary series.
On June 18, 2022, the CDC issued an emergency use authorization for smaller doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to immunize children under the age of 5. As of March 31, 2023, 1.06 million children under the age of 5 are fully vaccinated, 5.4% of this age group. Two million children under 5, or 10% of this population, have received at least one dose.
The CDC considers adults who have completed the one-dose (Johnson & Johnson) or two-dose (Pfizer or Moderna) series as having completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations. However, the public health agency also recommends staying up to date with booster shots to maintain the best possible protection against contracting the virus and preventing severe disease since immunity wanes over time.
How does vaccination progress break down by race?
By March 31, 2023 Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders were still the racial group most likely to have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccination. Eighty-seven percent of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, 600,000 individuals have completed their primary series. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders also had the greatest likelihood of receiving at least one booster dose, with 45% of Pacific Islanders (310,000) having gotten their first extra shot.
Asian Americans were the most likely to have received the updated bivalent shot with 21% of Asian U.S. residents (4.1 million) having received the updated shot. White Americans and Pacific Islanders were the second most likely racial or ethnic group to have received the bivalent shot with 16% of these groups having received the updated shot. This figure represents 32.4 million White U.S. residents and 110,000 Pacific Islander Americans.
Over eleven percent of white Americans have gotten their second booster, the most of any racial group. This is possibly because the white population is older on average than other races within the U.S. and would have been more likely to qualify for second booster shots early on. Pacific Islander Americans and Asian Americans were close behind, with 10% of their respective populations having gotten the second booster.
Between 22% and 27% of Black, Indigenous and Hispanic Americans in the U.S. have gotten at least one booster shot. Between 9% and 10% of individuals in these groups have received the bivalent shot.
Read more: What do experts say about disparities in vaccine uptake by race and ethnicity?