How many people in Pennsylvania are boosted against COVID-19? What the numbers show
President Joe Biden will receive his updated COVID-19 booster Tuesday and call on Americans to get the shot as health officials continue to urge people to get vaccinated before winter.
Nationwide, 19.4 million people have received an updated booster, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. That’s less than 10% of the eligible population, MarketWatch reported.
More than 9 million Pennsylvanians — 71.5% of the state’s population — have received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Novavax COVID vaccine or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine as of Oct. 19, according to data from the CDC.
More than 4 million residents, or 45.6% of those who completed their initial round of COVID vaccines, have received a booster dose.
In Centre County, 101,195 people, or 62.3% of the total population, have completed the initial vaccine course. More than 55,000 residents have received a booster.
Earlier this month, the CDC approved updated pediatric booster shots. The new Pfizer booster is available for children ages 5 to 11, while the Moderna booster has been OK’d for youngsters ages 6 to 17. Last month, Pfizer’s updated booster was approved for those 12 and older while Moderna’s booster was approved for those 18 and older.
“The updated COVID-19 booster shots restore protection that may have waned since previous vaccinations and provide added protection against the Omicron variant, including the highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 strains, which account for the vast majority of COVID-19 infections in the United States,” Pennsylvania’s acting health secretary and physician general, Dr. Denise Johnson, said in a statement. “With the seasons changing and more activities shifting to indoors, now is a great time for everyone to receive the most up to date protection available to combat the virus.”
As of Oct. 24, Mount Nittany Medical Center was treating nine COVID patients between ages 71 and 86.
COVID-19 in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s counties were divided between the medium and low COVID-19 community levels in the CDC’s most recent update Oct. 20.
Centre and neighboring Clearfield and Blair counties, as well as the western and southern parts of the state, were in the low level. Clinton, Union, Mifflin and Huntingdon counties, as well as the eastern and northern parts of the state, were in the medium level.
Community levels are calculated each week based on the number of new COVID cases, new COVID hospitalizations and the percentage of hospital beds taken by COVID patients.