Jeremy Hankins gets a Covid-19 shot from Zach Arvin during a Covid-19 and flu vaccination clinic at the Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury on October 28, 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
About 9% of Vermonters have received the updated Covid-19 vaccine so far this year, according to a new dashboard from the state Department of Health.
That’s slightly higher than the 6% of Vermonters who had received the latest Covid vaccine at the same point in 2023, according to Meridith Plumpton, the department’s immunization program manager.
She said via email the difference was likely because the vaccine became available in August — earlier than when it became available in mid-September 2023. By the end of the 2023-24 winter season, about 26% of Vermonters had gotten the updated Covid vaccine.
That’s still far below the 80% who received the initial Covid vaccine in 2021, according to department data, and slightly lower than the 35% of Vermonters 5 and older who received the first updated Covid vaccine, the “bivalent” booster dose, in 2022.
The department’s new dashboard also includes data on flu vaccine uptake. About 12% of Vermonters have received this year’s flu vaccine, about the same as this time last year, Plumpton said.
For the first time, the department provided data on newly approved RSV vaccines. About 26% of adults 75 and older have gotten the RSV vaccine, the department said. Only 700 pregnant people, infants and young children have gotten the vaccine this year, but the department did not provide percentages for that category.
Getting vaccinated
Covid hospitalizations and deaths have ticked downward lately after rising in August and September, according to the latest department surveillance report. Still, the past three years have seen Covid and other respiratory illnesses surge in the winter months.
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Vaccines are “our best protection” against those seasonal diseases, Plumpton said.
“(Covid) and Flu vaccines lessen the severity and intensity if you do get sick,” she wrote. “It is important that people realize the (Covid) and Flu vaccines are updated each year to target the currently circulating variants.”
Covid, flu and RSV vaccines are widely available at Vermont pharmacies. You can see a list of pharmacies that carry vaccinations in your area on this federal website or schedule directly through the websites for pharmacy chains like CVS, Walgreens or Kinney Drugs. Many primary care provider offices also provide vaccinations, according to the health department.
In general, health insurers in Vermont must cover the cost of the Covid vaccine, and certain health care providers offer it at low cost to uninsured Vermonters through the state immunization program, according to the department. Uninsured people under the age of 65 can also get Covid and flu vaccines at their local health offices. The department suggests talking with your provider about getting the RSV vaccine.
People who have recently caught Covid can consider delaying their Covid vaccine by up to three months, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More details on the Covid, flu and RSV vaccines are available on the health department website.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Less than 10% of Vermonters have been vaccinated for Covid-19 so far this year.