The COVID pandemic now feels like a bad memory for most of us. The lockdowns, the social distancing, the masking, and, of course, the vaccine shaming. Most of us are glad that it is now in the past and have no desire for a repeat.
However, there are some who seem eager for the next pandemic, making it very clear that we should expect another pandemic in the near future. At times, it has felt like we’ve been conditioned for it and all restrictions that were previously deemed a horrible mistake of the past. In the past few months, in particular, there have been hints that such a comeback might be imminent and that a big, bad, brand new COVID variant is coming with a vengeance. The media started going nuts with reports of an increase in COVID hospitalizations, and reports of high-profile people suddenly getting COVID again started to happen regularly. Even Jill Biden caught it again.
All this started to happen when polls began to show that Donald Trump had a real chance of winning in 2024. I'm not going to say the two things are related, but it sure is an amusing coincidence. In any case, Joe Biden ordered a batch of a new and improved vaccine and even hinted at the possibility of a vaccine mandate. None of the fear mongering worked, however.
According to a recent poll from Gallup, less than a third of Americans have bothered to get the new vaccine, and that number lags behind the share of adults who have gotten their annual flu shot this year, which is nearly half.
"Another 20% of U.S. adults indicate they plan to get the new COVID-19 shot, which could bring the level of current vaccination against COVID-19 to close to half of Americans, but that still falls below the combined 63% who have gotten or plan to get the flu shot," explains Gallup. "Gallup had found that over seven in 10 U.S. adults had received the earlier versions of COVID-19 vaccines, which were first available to the public in late 2020 and early 2021. The past two years, booster shots to those initial vaccines were made available. The new shot can be given to people regardless of whether they have been previously vaccinated against COVID-19."
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More Americans aged 65 and older, 46%, have received updated COVID-19 shots, compared to the general population. Even among that demographic, that number lags behind those who have received the annual flu shot, which is 68%.
It should come as no surprise that vaccine intentions vary by age and party identification, particularly for COVID-19. As you could have guessed, it's mostly Democrats. However, still less than half of Democrats, 48% say they've received the updated vaccine, with 20% of independents and 10% of Republicans saying they have received the updated shot.
"Americans may see less of a need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because they are less worried about getting the illness and believe the situation is improving," reports Gallup. "Twenty-three percent of U.S. adults are very or somewhat worried about getting COVID-19, which is near the low in Gallup’s trend. Concern had ticked up in the prior survey, conducted in August and September, from 18% to 27% before edging down this month."
It wasn't all that long ago that it felt like most Americans felt they were doing the right thing by getting vaccinated for COVID. They have since become hesitant to do so—especially after it became clear that vaccination wasn't providing immunity. There will always be a portion of the population who will get every booster, but most people have realized that it's not necessary for them. Heck, they're clearly more concerned about the annual flu than COVID now. In that sense, all the COVID alarmism that Biden and his administration subjected us to was a spectacular failure.
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