One million people have died of COVID-19 in the United States. Millions more, including as many as 20 percent of educators, suffer from long-term COVID symptoms. But almost a third of principals, and district leaders haven鈥檛 gotten a COVID-19 booster shot, new survey data show.
Some non-boosted educators believe a booster won鈥檛 provide them additional protection or that it isn鈥檛 worth the potential side effects. Others aren鈥檛 worried about the threat COVID poses to their health.
Fully vaccinated Americans age 12 and older last fall became eligible for their first booster shots. In March, people above age 50, immunocomprised people, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients for a second booster shot four months after their first.
Numerous research studies in the U.S. and other countries show a third shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine , particularly against severe illness and death, compared with the initial two doses.
COVID-19 cases are , just a few months after the Omicron wave raged nationwide. A handful of schools in , , , and have closed temporarily in recent days after outbreaks among staff and students.
But only 70 percent of teachers, district leaders, and principals had gotten a COVID-19 booster shot as of last month, according to an nationally representative survey of 374 district leaders, 305 principals, and 384 teachers conducted March 30 through April 8 by the EdWeek Research Center.
By contrast, roughly half of eligible Americans have gotten at least one COVID booster, according to .
That amounts to 46 percent of the fully vaccinated population, though , and the agency has said it may be due to data complications. Regardless, booster uptake in the U.S. Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
The reasons for educators not getting boosted vary considerably, according to the survey. The most common reason cited, among 29 percent of respondents, was the belief that they don鈥檛 need more protection because they already had contracted COVID. Nineteen percent said they don鈥檛 believe they need more protection because they had the prior COVID vaccines.
Both of these statements are based on false assumptions. Studies show that booster shots are , and that additional vaccine doses than antibodies from a COVID-19 infection.
Vaccine hesitancy and COVID denialism are also playing a role. One-quarter of nonboosted respondents to the EdWeek survey said they trust vaccines in general but don鈥檛 trust COVID vaccines. Fifteen percent said they don鈥檛 believe boosters are effective. Eight percent said they believe boosters would harm their health.
Thirteen percent said they don鈥檛 believe COVID is a threat to their health, and 7 percent said they don鈥檛 believe COVID is a threat to people around them.
Practical concerns are also fueling booster reluctance for some educators. Eighteen percent of nonboosted respondents said they don鈥檛 want to deal with more vaccine side effects.
Two percent said they don鈥檛 have access to enough paid leave to recuperate from side effects. The Biden administration last year tried as part of an employer vaccine mandate to require employers to offer employees four hours of paid time off to get a vaccine, but later after a federal court struck it down. Some school employees have drained sick time or been forced to take unpaid leave for pandemic-related absences.
Not everyone who hasn鈥檛 been boosted is against doing so. Fourteen percent of educators who haven鈥檛 been boosted yet said they intend to but haven鈥檛 gotten around to it. Experts blame and .
The bulk of recent COVID deaths among vaccinated individuals have been among people who haven鈥檛 had a booster shot, according to a .
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
