CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

of Kaiser Health Foundation.

Widespread, lasting immunization is critical to controlling the virus, according to health officials. Every poorly protected lung is a safe harbor for COVID-19 to spread and mutate. And every surge further exhausts the nation’s already depleted health care system, consuming finite hospital staff, resources and attention that then cannot be used to treat people with other serious illnesses.

Normal life in this country, scientists say, depends on the willingness of Americans to act both in their individual and in the broader community interest. The vaccine rollout, 1 year old this past week, has averted about 1 million COVID-19 deaths and 10 million hospitalizations, according to a recent report by the Commonwealth Fund.

But it has been plagued by polarization, misinformation and lately by muddled communication from the federal government — first over who was eligible and most recently over whether a booster shot would make a difference.

As recently as last month, many public health experts opposed the Biden administration’s plan to offer booster shots to all American adults. Many researchers said there was little scientific evidence to support the extra doses. Instead, they argued, the shots should be used to protect the billions of people who remain unvaccinated.

The CDC initially limited its recommendation for boosters to Americans older than 50 and those ages 18 and older living in long-term care facilities. But in late November, many of the experts who opposed boosters for all reversed course.

Prompted by growing concerns about the Omicron variant, the CDC now says that all American adults should get boosters. Recent studies have shown that the third dose of coronavirus vaccine may protect against the worst outcomes of the fast-spreading Omicron variant, while two shots produce a weaker antibody response. And data from November released Friday by the CDC shows that fully vaccinated individuals without a booster were at least two times as likely to test positive as those who received a booster shot.

But many Americans have not gotten the message.

“When Omicron came out, the national media made such a big deal about it that there was a pretty good increase in the amount of people that went for the boosters,” said Dewayne Bush, emergency operations coordinator for Taylor County, Texas. But demand in his area, around Abilene, has since tapered off amid reports that the variant may cause less severe disease than other forms of the virus.

“Now,” he said, “people have some questions about why was it such a big, huge issue.”

The booster’s importance is not failing entirely to reach the public: The share of fully vaccinated adults who report receiving a booster dose more than doubled in November, according to a Kaiser report. At least one-third of Black and Hispanic adults older than 50 have received a booster, and many more said they plan to get one soon, suggesting that the initial hesitancy that some had about getting vaccinated has waned.

With more than half of the states already reporting Omicron cases, the sense of urgency is mounting.

“Don’t wait,” Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York exhorted this week amid reports that the city’s sevenday average for new COVID-19 infections had tripled in the past month, with hospitalizations rising.

“Get your booster shot right now, I mean right now, ahead of the holiday gatherings, while Omicron has just begun to assert itself.”