A little help?

Even though the vaccine match to the covid variants is not ideal, the bivalent boosters might provide protection against hospitalization and death, and thus are especially important for the most vulnerable, including the elderly and immunocompromised.

Unfortunately, national vaccine uptake continues to lag. According to the CDC, only 13.1 percent of the eligible population 18 and older has gotten the bivalent booster, and only 29.6 percent of those 65 and older. This defies good sense. The booster shots are still free, readily available and work better than the previous boosters even as the virus evolves.

Much still needs to be done to build better vaccines that protect longer and against more variants, including those that might emerge in the future. But it is worth grabbing the booster that exists today, the jab being a small price for any measure that can help keep covid at bay.