Why Pandemic Fatigue is Causing Low Uptake of the Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine

Pandemic fatigue appears to be one of the main reasons why the public has responded timidly to the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine.

The term, coined by the World Health Organization, defines the demotivation and fatigue that prevail in a large part of the population due to such a prolonged pandemic – three years and counting – and with so many restrictions to try to control the disease.

“Many have pandemic fatigue and do not want to get vaccinated anymore. People have lost their fear (of COVID-19). Also, the guidelines (to prevent contagion) have changed a lot”said yesterday Lilliam Rodríguez, director of VOCES, Vaccination Coalition.

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According to Dr. Melissa Marzán, the main Epidemiology officer of the Department of Health, in Puerto Rico, nine out of 10 people eligible to receive the bivalent vaccine have not received it.

“There are still resources available free of cost: tests, vaccines and antivirals (with prescription) in more than 500 pharmacies,” said Marzán.

The bivalent vaccine against COVID-19 has two mRNA components: one from the original virus strain and another from the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved it in August 2022.

“The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) removed the primary series (of the vaccine). It is no longer recommended, only the bivalent one,” Rodríguez said.

The bivalent, he explained, is recommended from six months to people who already have the primary series. A second dose of the bivalent, she indicated, is recommended starting at age 65, two months after receiving the first.

“It has moved very slowly,” he acknowledged about the experience of the VOCES clinic in the Plaza Las Américas shopping center with the administration of the bivalent.

Rodríguez warned that people should assess their individual and collective risk of contracting COVID-19 when deciding to get the vaccine. He stressed that there are people who have conditions that put them at risk, while others live with or hang out with people who can get complicated.

The bivalent vaccine, he pointed out, does not guarantee that the person will not be infected, but rather it reduces their risk of complications, developing severe disease, requiring hospitalization and dying. “Do I put people close to me at risk? It is time to do that introspection ”, she maintained.

Rodríguez reported that there is another vaccine, Novavax, which is available for people who did not have a first booster or did not get the primary series.