It’s now been over a month since the FDA and the CDC authorized third doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for a large swath of the U.S. population, and a couple of weeks since the agencies did the same thing for additional doses of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines. In that time, over 20 million Americans have received their boosters.
This weekend, I set out to see what data are now available on these booster shots. I updated my vaccination data in the U.S. resource page, which includes detailed annotations on every state’s vaccine reporting along with several national and international sources.
The majority of states (and national dashboards) are now including booster shots in their vaccine reporting, I found. But in most cases, the reporting stops at just one statistic: the total number of residents who have received an additional dose. A few states are reporting time series information—i.e. booster shots administered by day—and a few are reporting demographics—i.e. booster shot recipients by age, gender, race, and ethnicity—but these metrics are lacking across most dashboards.
Demographic information, particularly race and ethnicity, should be a priority for booster shot data, as it should be for numerous other COVID-19 metrics. At the beginning of the U.S.’s vaccine rollout, Black and Hispanic/Latino Americans lagged behind white Americans in getting their shots, but limited data hindered the public health system’s ability to respond to this trend. (Now, the trends have evened out somewhat, though Black vaccination rates still lag white rates in some states.)
Will we see the same pattern with booster shots? Considering the immense confusion that has surrounded America’s booster shot rollout in the last couple of months, it would not be surprising if disadvantaged communities are less likely to know about their potential need for a booster, or where and how to get those shots.
But so far, we don’t have enough data to tell us whether this pattern is playing out. The CDC has yet to report booster shot data by race or ethnicity, though the agency is now reporting some figures by age and by state. Note: the CDC still has yet to report detailed vaccination data by race and ethnicity, period; the agency just reports national figures, nothing by state or other smaller geographies.
At the state level, just eight states are reporting booster shots by race and ethnicity. 13 states are reporting some kind of time series (boosters administered by day or week), and three are reporting doses administered by vaccine manufacturer.
Here are all the states that I found reporting booster shot data, with links to their dashboards:
- Arkansas: Reporting total boosters only.
- California: Total boosters only.
- Colorado: Reporting demographics; age, race/ethnicity, and sex.
- DC: Total boosters for DC and non-DC residents.
- Delaware: Reporting demographics; age, race/ethnicity, and sex.
- Florida: Total boosters only.
- Indiana: Total boosters and doses administered by day.
- Kansas: Total boosters and doses administered by day.
- Louisiana: Total boosters only.
- Massachusetts: Total boosters and doses administered by day.
- Maryland: Reporting demographics; age, race/ethnicity, and sex.
- Michigan: Reporting demographics (age, race/ethnicity, and sex) as well as doses administered by week and by manufacturer.
- Minnesota: Total boosters only.
- Missouri: Total boosters and doses administered by day.
- Mississippi: Reporting demographics (age and race/ethnicity) as well as doses administered by facility type (total and for the prior week).
- North Dakota: Total boosters and doses administered by day.
- New Jersey: Reporting demographics (age, race/ethnicity, and sex) as well as doses administered by day and by manufacturer.
- New Mexico: Total boosters only.
- Ohio: Reporting demographics (age, race/ethnicity, and sex) as well as doses administered by day and by county.
- Oklahoma: Total boosters only.
- Oregon: Total boosters, doses administered by day and by county.
- Pennsylvania: Total boosters and doses administered by day.
- Rhode Island: Boosters administered by day only.
- South Carolina: Boosters administered by day only.
- South Dakota: Total boosters, doses administered by week and by county.
- Texas: Total boosters only.
- Virginia: Reporting demographics; age, race/ethnicity, and sex.
- Vermont: Total boosters only.
- Wyoming: Total boosters and doses administered by manufacturer.
Local reporters: If your state is reporting demographic data, I recommend taking a look at those numbers. How does the population receiving booster shots compare to the overall population of your state, or to the population that’s received one or two doses? And if your state is not reporting demographic data (or any booster data at all), ask your public health department for these numbers!
You can see my vaccine annotations page for more information on all of these state dashboards. And if there are any states or metrics I missed, please let me know! Comment here or email me at betsy@coviddatadispatch.com.
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