In recent months, with most of those willing to get their shots now inoculated, vaccination rates have plummeted.
The CDC estimated that BA.2, a subvariant of omicron, nearly doubled every week in the U.S. and makes up more than 8% of new infections.When the first coronavirus vaccines were shipped out across the country more than a year ago, millions of Americans waited eagerly for their turn to get a shot, hoping that it would lead to a return to normal.
Although there are certainly fewer unvaccinated than vaccinated people in the U.S., tens of millions of Americans remain unvaccinated and unboosted. Across the country, more than 58 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated, while 87.6 million Americans -- about half of those currently eligible to be boosted -- have yet to receive their supplemental dose.
The experts interviewed by ABC News are concerned about how to convey that message while maintaining trust as well as how additional doses might further exacerbate inequities in access and care around the country. Some people point erroneously to the increase in breakthrough infections as a reason to not get vaccinated, she said.
Evidence exhibiting protection against severe illness and death, will ultimately be paramount, Brownstein added.