U.S. creates its own COVID-19 booster problems: report

LOS ANGELES, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States has created its own COVID-19 booster problems, leaving Americans potentially vulnerable to yet another catastrophic surge, said a recent report of The Atlantic magazine.

By this point in the pandemic, the benefits of boosters seem pretty clear, said the report. During Omicron's winter wave, people who received a booster were less likely to be infected, hospitalized, or killed by the virus than those without a boost.

"With a menagerie of antibody-dodging subvariants now dominating the world's stage, and more certainly on the way, boosters feel 'more necessary' than ever before," the report quoted Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington, as saying.

However, eight months on from U.S. President Joe Biden's announcement of his ambitious plan to revaccinate every eligible adult, tens of millions of eligible, vaccinated Americans still have not opted for an additional shot, said the report.

Just 30 percent of the U.S. population is boosted, putting the country below most other Western nations, according to the report.

"With daily COVID vaccination rates only a notch above their all-time nadir and barriers to inoculation rising, the nation might be bogged down in its booster doldrums for a good while yet -- leaving Americans potentially vulnerable to yet another catastrophic surge," said the report.