Young adults lagging in shots

Getting them vaccinated seen as crucial as cases rise

When Maya Booker, 18, got her first Pfizer shot, at a popup clinic Saturday at the Oakland Zoo, she tried to calm her nerves by repeating to herself, “If I can get piercings and tattoos, I can do this.”

Booker, a San Leandro resident whose phobia of shots was among several reasons she hesitated on vaccination, even though she’d been eligible for a few months, added, “I kept telling myself that over and over.”

As health officials race to once again quell new cases of the coronavirus, which are growing at a particularly fast clip among young adults, Booker is squarely in the demographic they want to reach for vaccination. Today’s actions by young people — getting vaccinated or not — could shape the next stage of the pandemic.

Nationwide, and in most Bay Area counties