CDC: Nearly everyone is returning for 2nd covid-19 shot

More than 95% of the people who have received the first dose of the two-shot coronavirus vaccine regimen have returned on time for their second, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The public health agency saw the statistics, which it compiled between Dec. 14 and Feb. 14, as promising, though with the caveat that those who did return may have been better situated to do so.

Among the 12.4 million people who had received a first dose and were eligible for the second, 88.6% had returned, the CDC said. The 8.6% who had not “were still within the allowable interval to receive it,” the CDC said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Monday.

Of those who had gotten their second dose, 95.6% had received it within the recommended time interval — three weeks for the Pfizer-BioNTech, and four weeks for Moderna, though it’s still effective if one waits a little longer, as ABC News pointed out.

In other words, those lagging still had their chance before officially missing that second dose, since 42 days is still within the window.

The CDC said the initial results, while encouraging, might not hold for larger groups because those vaccinated at the outset were people highly motivated to get both shots, as well as health care workers, nursing home residents and facility staff who were all first in line.

Across the United States, 39 million people, or 11.8% of the population, have been fully vaccinated with either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or the single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the CDC said.

The CDC called the results promising, given earlier reservations about getting people to come in for two shots, especially when side effects seemed to be almost guaranteed. Given the ease of access to people in the first two months, the CDC is aiming to keep the way open for everyone who comes afterward.

“CDC is working across the government and with state and local partners to identify and address barriers to getting both doses,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a press briefing Monday, according to The Verge.