Less Than Half Of Health Care Workers Received An Updated COVID-19 Vaccine: CDC

Less Than Half Of Health Care Workers Received An Updated COVID-19 Vaccine: CDC

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

A minority of health care workers received an updated COVID-19 vaccine, according to a newly reported survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Just 40.2 percent of health care personnel who responded to the survey said they received a COVID-19 shot between the fall of 2024 and early 2025, CDC researchers said on April 2.

The rate of vaccination was higher, 76.3 percent, for influenza.

The survey was conducted online from March 26 to April 17 in 2025, following the 2024–2025 respiratory virus season. The season begins in the fall of each year and runs into the next year.

Some 2,650 health care workers responded to the survey.

At the time, the CDC recommended influenza and COVID-19 vaccination for virtually all Americans aged 6 months and older, regardless of the number of prior doses. The CDC more recently narrowed its recommendations for those shots, citing factors such as uncertain risk-benefit profiles.

A federal judge blocked the updates in March.

The percentage of workers who took a COVID-19 vaccine increased from the prior season, when the rate was 31.3 percent, according to the newly released survey. The percentage of workers who received a flu shot remained about the same, though it is down from years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CDC researchers said the increase in COVID-19 vaccination coverage may be from the vaccine for the 2024–2025 season becoming available one month earlier than the preceding year.

Workers aged 18 to 29 were most likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Personnel aged 60 and up were more likely to receive an influenza immunization.

According to survey data, nearly four in 10 employers required influenza vaccination, and about 14 in 100 mandated COVID-19 vaccination. People who worked for employers who required vaccination were far more likely to have received the vaccines. Some 83 percent of workers required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine had received one, compared to 46 percent whose employer recommended COVID-19 vaccination and just 19 percent whose employer did not require or recommend vaccination.

CDC researchers said that the data could “help guide the development and implementation of evidence-based strategies to encourage vaccination, increase coverage, reduce influenza incidence among [health care personnel] and their patients, and limit strain on the health care system.”

The researchers said the findings supported actively promoting vaccination in places of business to increase influenza vaccination coverage among health care workers.

Health care workers who decline vaccination have said in previous surveys that they were worried about vaccine side effects and expressed distrust in health authorities.

The CDC published the study in its quasi-journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The publication ensures reports align with CDC messaging and typically does not peer-review papers.

“Although most articles that appear in MMWR are not ‘peer-reviewed’ in the way that submissions to medical journals are, to ensure that the content of MMWR comports with CDC policy, every submission to MMWR undergoes a rigorous multilevel clearance process before publication,” the CDC said in a 2011 report. “By the time a report appears in MMWR, it reflects, or is consistent with, CDC policy.”

Limitations of the paper included the vaccination status being self-reported and unverified. Authors disclosed no potential conflicts of interest.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/04/2026 - 18:05