Despite the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, Santa Clara County health officials say a much lower percentage of residents have gotten the latest vaccine compared to previous booster shots.
Only 19% of county residents have received the updated vaccine, which was released in September. Vaccination rates among certain populations are even lower, with only 9% of Latinos and 11% of African Americans having received up-to-date shots. That’s in comparison to 22% of white residents and 19% of Asian residents.
“One of Public Health’s most important roles is to track systemic factors causing health inequities and to raise the alarm about the impact on Santa Clara County communities,” Dr. Sarah Rudman, the deputy health officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, said in a news release. “Culturally centered outreach and education must be strengthened to remove barriers and to connect people to the preventative care they need.”
The county said that while certain racial and ethnic groups have been undervaccinated since the start of the pandemic, the gap has continued to increase. Before the latest booster, Latino residents were about half as likely to receive the bivalent booster compared to white residents. The county estimates that Latino residents are now about 40% as likely to get the most recent booster compared to white residents.
The news of Santa Clara County’s low vaccination rates comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that there is an “urgent need” to increase vaccinations — especially in light of an uptick in other respiratory illnesses.
“Low vaccination rates, coupled with ongoing increases in national and international respiratory disease activity caused by multiple pathogens, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), and RSV, could lead to more severe disease and increased healthcare capacity strain in the coming weeks,” the agency wrote in an advisory last week.
Nationally, the COVID vaccination rate is similarly low, with 17% of adults and 8% of children having received the latest shot as of Dec. 2, according to CDC data. Flu vaccines are also lower compared to the same time last year, with 36.1% of adults having received the flu shot as of Nov. 11, compared to 38.4% last year.
In the CDC’s advisory, the agency cited a national survey that found lack of provider recommendations, concerns about side effects and lack of time or forgetting to get vaccinated as reasons for low vaccination rates for COVID-19, RSV and the flu.