Few Upper East Siders Have Gotten Latest COVID Booster, New Data Shows

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side has been among the city's most-vaccinated areas since the life-saving COVID-19 shots rolled out two years ago — but the neighborhood is lagging when it comes to the latest booster shots, according to new data.

For the first time, the city last week released ZIP code-level data showing how many residents have gotten their bivalent booster: the updated shot introduced in September that protects against the original coronavirus strain as well as two subvariants of Omicron.

Only 11.9 percent of New Yorkers have gotten their bivalent boosters, despite pleas from health officials who say that the shots guard against severe illness and death.

On the Upper East Side, 32.7 percent of residents have gotten the bivalent booster, according to the new data. That's among the highest rates in the city, but far below the neighborhood's rate for the primary round of vaccines. (About 88.7 percent.)

Seniors in particular have been urged to get the booster, as data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows elderly people who have gotten the latest shot are dying at far lower rates than those without it.

Still, when children are excluded from the data, the Upper East Side's booster percentage inches up to just 36.2 percent.

The city's slow uptake of the bivalent booster is in line with nationwide trends — just 14.6 percent of Americans ages 5 or older have gotten the updated dose, including only 36.7 percent of people 65 and older, according to the C.D.C.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who called attention to the new booster data last week, said the city's low rates were troubling.

"We need to do much better [than] this," he said on Twitter.

Many seniors have described being unaware of the latest booster, unsure how to find it or skeptical of its importance, the New York Times reported last week.

Indeed, New York City health officials acknowledged in September that their rollout of the bivalent booster would be significantly stepped down from past vaccination campaigns.

"I will say clearly that we have seen a pullback of congressional emergency funds, so don't expect to see an emergency response with popup tents and mass vaccination sites," Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said at the time.

Cases of COVID-19 in New York City jumped starting around Thanksgiving but have leveled off since early December.

Besides the original coronavirus strain, the booster was designed to protect against the once-dominant BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron. While those have since been eclipsed by new subvariants like BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, the booster remains effective at preventing severe disease, experts told the Times.

The C.D.C. recommends the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster for all Americans ages 5 or older who have gone at least two months since their last vaccination or booster shot.

To find a booster location near you, visit vaccinefinder.nyc.gov.