Survey shows that many Americans have not received the latest COVID booster

A recent survey of American adults conducted by researchers from the COVID States Project found that almost half of respondents reported being infected with COVID-19 at least once, with 35% saying they have tested positive more than once. The survey also revealed that the majority of Americans have not yet received the latest bivalent booster shot.

The report provides a snapshot of the state of the pandemic at the end of 2022, including case rates, vaccine, and booster shot uptake, usage of antiviral treatments, mask-wearing habits, and flu shot rates. It sheds light on the state of vaccinations and ongoing health risks during a “tripledemic” in which flu, COVID-19, and the respiratory illness RSV are circulating among Americans.

The survey was conducted by a consortium of universities including Northwestern, Harvard, Northeastern, and Rutgers, and surveyed 26,161 American adults across all 50 states between October 6 and November 9. This is the 96th survey conducted by the consortium since the project launched in March 2020.

“We are now approaching two years since vaccines became available but the health threat of COVID-19 remains, even as most return to pre-pandemic life,” said political scientist James Druckman, a member of the COVID States Project “It is essential to continue to track the pandemic to inform continued attempts to control it.”

James N. Druckman is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science and Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. He is also an Honorary Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. His research focuses on political preference formation and communication. His work examines how citizens make political, economic, and social decisions in various contexts (e.g., settings with multiple competing messages, online information, and deliberation). He also researches the relationship between citizens’ preferences and public policy and the polarization of American society.

Learn more in Northwestern Now’s story, “A majority of Americans have not received the latest COVID booster, study finds.”