Just one in 10 Americans has had their Covid booster shot

Conversations about whether to mandate booster shots have already started

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Only one in 10 people in the US have had their booster shots, according to Our Word in Data.

More than 607,000 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the US in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University, with 7,970 people dying from the disease in the last seven days.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the seven-day daily average of new coronavirus cases has increased by around 30 per cent in the last two weeks.

The United States had administered 11.13 booster doses per 100 people as of Thursday, as per Our Word in Data, and just under 70 per cent of Americans over the age of 12 have received two doses of the shot.

On 19 November, the booster shot was approved for use for people who had their second dose of the vaccine six months or more ago, later the same day it was approved for use by all adults.

Conversations about whether to mandate booster shots have already started. Connecticut governor, Ned Lamont, said that there will become a time when boosters will be the only way a person can qualify as being fully vaccinated.

“We’re 11 months into the vaccination programme. In my view, if you were vaccinated more than six months ago, you’re not fully vaccinated,” Mr Lamont said, reported NBC Connecticut.

“If you were vaccinated more than six months ago, now is the time and go get that booster. I urge you to get it now,” he continued.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham agreed, and floated the idea of possible mandates. “We know vaccinations are the most effective tool to both blunting the spread of the virus and to protecting ourself and our families,” she said, reported AP.

“So we are analysing what we can do to create those incentives – and potentially mandates – for making sure that people are fully vaccinated, which means three vaccines.”