A recent study published in U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) showed a decline in the uptake of COVID-19 shots among health care workers in the United States this year.1 During the 2023–2024 respiratory virus season, fewer than one in six health care personnel working in acute care hospitals and nursing homes reported receiving a COVID booster, and fewer than one-half of health care personnel working in nursing homes had received a flu shot.2
Findings from the study highlighted that only 15.3 percent of health care workers in acute care hospitals, 10.5 percent in nursing homes, and 12.7 percent of licensed independent practitioners reported receiving the updated COVID booster shot, a sharp drop compared to previous seasons.3 In the 2022-2023 respiratory virus season, 17.8 percent of health care workers in hospitals and 22.8 percent in nursing homes had received a COVID booster.4
This decrease comes after the expiration of a vaccine mandate for health care workers in June 2023, which had been implemented by the Biden administration during the earlier phases of the pandemic in 2021 and 2022. The end of government-funded COVID shots also likely played a role in this lower COVID shot uptake.5
Hellbound and Down 