Originally published October 10, 2023 2:00 pm PDT

A recent study published last week in the renowned journal Vaccine has shed light on the reasons behind the significantly low uptake of COVID-19 booster shots among U.S. adults.

The research reveals that less than 20% of the eligible population in the U.S. has received the bivalent booster shot.

The study, titled “Understanding low COVID-19 booster uptake among US adults,” was conducted using a sample of 2196 adult participants from the Arizona CoVHORT, established in May 2020.

The participants, who had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, responded to surveys between February 13 and March 29, 2023.

The survey sought to understand the reasons behind their decision to not get a bivalent booster.

According to the research, “The most commonly reported reason for not having been boosted was a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (39.5%), followed by concern about vaccine side effects (31.5%), believing that the booster would not provide additional protection over the vaccines already received (28.6%), and concern about booster safety (23.4%) or that it would not protect from SARS-CoV-2 infection (23.1%).”

Age played a significant role in the decision-making process.

The results showed that individuals aged “60 years of age or older were less likely to select items related to knowledge (OR: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.11–0.55) or logistical concerns (OR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.03–0.30) about the vaccine.”

On the other hand, ethnicity also influenced the decision, with the data revealing that those reporting Hispanic ethnicity “were more likely to convey concerns about logistics than those reporting non-Hispanic ethnicity (OR: 2.15; 95% CI: 1.08–4.30).”

Education appeared to be another distinguishing factor.

“Compared to college graduates, those with some college or technical school were significantly more likely to select items related to the risks and benefits of the bivalent vaccine not being clear as reasons for not having been boosted (OR: 2.41; 95% CI: 1.69–3.43).”

You can read the full study here.