Just 15.3% of the nearly 8 million healthcare workers in acute care hospitals got the COVID-19 booster during the 2023-2024 season, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found.
Rates were lowest among nursing home workers at just 10.5%.
"These two events might have affected vaccination campaigns and on-site access to COVID-19 vaccines in nursing homes," the CDC wrote in an analysis of the survey data.
The findings, published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that:
- Flu vaccine coverage was 80.7% during the 2023-24 cold and flu season among about 8.8 million healthcare workers employed in over 4,000 acute care hospitals.
- Coverage with COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare personnel in nursing homes decreased from 22.8% during the 2022-23 respiratory virus season.
- Coverage was lowest at 12.7% among licensed independent practitioners.
"Like findings in previous studies, the current findings highlight the need to further investigate barriers to vaccination among health care personnel and identify additional strategies to address these challenges," the report stated.