Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People
COVID-19 Homepage
An Effective Boost
Interpretive Summary for December 02, 2022
An Effective Boost
New data recently released by CDC highlight the importance of an updated (bivalent) booster for everyone ages 5 years and older. The report found that an updated (bivalent) booster provides additional protection from COVID-19 illness in people who previously received two or more doses of an original (monovalent) mRNA vaccine. Getting the updated (bivalent) booster restored protection that had decreased over time since receiving the last vaccine dose.
Additionally, CDC’s COVID Data Tracker now includes early data showing that people ages 12 years and older who got an updated (bivalent) booster were 15 times less likely to die from COVID-19 compared with people who were not vaccinated. CDC will continue to evaluate how well the updated (bivalent) booster is performing and will provide that information as it becomes available.
COVID-19 spread has increased the last two winters, so stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccines this holiday season to prevent serious illness and death. The updated (bivalent) booster protects against the original strain of the virus and the currently circulating Omicron BA.4 and BA.5-related lineages and sublineages. Getting one updated (bivalent) booster is recommended for all people ages 5 years and older if it has been at least two months since their last COVID-19 dose (either primary series or original monovalent booster).
- COVID Data Tracker’s Rates of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Vaccination Status now displays early data on updated (bivalent) booster doses for select jurisdictions.
- COVID Data Tracker’s Vaccination Among Pregnant People tab now displays the percent of pregnant people ages 18–49 years who received an updated (bivalent) booster dose before or during pregnancy overall, by race and ethnicity, and by week.
- COVID Data Tracker’s County View page now displays updated (bivalent) booster dose data for all eligible age groups at the county level.
- Effectiveness of Bivalent mRNA Vaccines in Preventing Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection — Increasing Community Access to Testing Program, United States, September–November 2022
- Paxlovid Associated with Decreased Hospitalization Rate Among Adults with COVID-19 — United States, April–September 2022
- SARS-CoV-2 Serology and Self-Reported Infection Among Adults — National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, August 2021–May 2022
COVID-19 Community Levels*
As of December 1, 2022, there are 182 (5.7%) counties, districts, or territories with a high COVID-19 Community Level, 799 (24.8%) counties with a medium Community Level, and 2,234 (69.5%) counties with a low Community Level. Compared with last week, this represents an increase (+2.0 percentage points) in the number of high-level counties, an increase (+6.5 percentage points) in the number of medium-level counties, and a decrease (-8.5 percentage points) in the number of low-level counties. Overall, 46 out of 52 jurisdictions** had high- or medium-level counties this week. District of Columbia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont are the only jurisdictions to have all counties at low Community Levels.
To check your COVID-19 Community Level, visit COVID Data Tracker. To learn which prevention measures are recommended based on your COVID-19 Community Level, visit COVID-19 Community Level and COVID-19 Prevention.
*CDC recommends use of COVID-19 Community Levels to determine the impact of COVID-19 on communities and to take action. CDC also provides Community Transmission Levels to describe the amount of COVID-19 spread within each county. Healthcare facilities use Community Transmission Levels to determine infection control interventions.
**Includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Reported Cases
As of November 30, 2022, the current 7-day average of weekly new cases (43,300) decreased 1.2% compared with the previous 7-day average (43,837). A total of 98,777,220 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States as of November 30, 2022.
Variant Proportions
CDC Nowcast projections* for the week ending December 3, 2022, estimate the proportion of lineages designated as Omicron with estimates above 1%: BA.5—and four of its sublineages (BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BF.7, and BA.5.2.6)—BA.4.6,and XBB. XBB is a recombinant of two BA.2 sublineages.
The two predominant Omicron lineages are BQ.1.1, projected to be 31.9% (95% PI 29.7-34.3%) and BQ.1, projected to be 30.9% (95% PI 28.7-33.3%) nationally. Additionally, COVID Data Tracker shows XBB; it is projected to be 5.5% (95% PI 2.7-10.6%).
See COVID Data Tracker for the proportions of all relevant lineages currently circulating.
98,777,220
Total Cases Reported
43,300
Current 7-Day Average**
43,837
Previous 7-Day Average
-1.2%
Change in 7-Day Average since Previous Period
*CDC uses Nowcast projections to predict current variant proportions circulating in the United States. The median time from specimen collection to sequence data reporting is about 3 weeks. As a result, weighted estimates for the most recent few weeks may be unstable or unavailable. View Nowcast estimates on CDC’s COVID Data Tracker website on the Variant Proportions page.
**Historical cases are excluded from weekly new cases and 7-day average calculations until they are incorporated into the dataset for the applicable date. No historical cases reported at this time.
Vaccinations
COVID-19 Vaccine Primary Series
As of November 30, 2022, 655.3 million vaccine doses have been administered in the United States. Overall, about 267.3 million people, or 80.5% of the total U.S. population, have received at least one dose of vaccine. About 228.4 million people, or 68.8% of the total U.S. population, have completed a primary series.*
655,280,140
Vaccine Doses Administered
267,346,533
People who received at least one dose (80.5% of the U.S. population)
228,369,460
People who have completed a primary series* (68.8% of the U.S. population)
-0.2
Percentage point change from last week
+0.0%
Percentage point change from last week
*Represents the number of people who have received the second dose in a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series (such as the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax vaccines) or one dose of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.
Daily Change in the Total Number of Administered COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Reported to CDC by the Date of Administration, United States
7-Day moving average
COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters
Of those who have completed a primary series, about 114.8 million people have received a booster dose,* and more than 39.7 million people have received an updated (bivalent) booster dose. But 48.3% of the total booster-eligible population has not yet received a booster dose. Learn more about who is eligible.
155,987,843
Booster Doses Administered
114,779,848
Population ≥ 5 Years of Age with a 1st booster dose*
32,421,025
Population ≥ 50 Years of Age with a 2nd booster dose**
50.4%
Percentage of the Population ≥ 5 Years of Age with a 1st booster dose
47.9%
Percentage of the Population ≥ 50 Years of Age with a 2nd booster dose
+0.2
Percentage point change from last week
+0.8
Percentage point change from last week
*Represents the number of people who have completed a primary series and have received another dose of COVID-19 vaccine since August 13, 2021. This includes people who received their first additional dose or booster dose.
**Represents the number of people who have completed a primary series and have received two subsequent doses of COVID-19 vaccine since August 13, 2021. This includes people who received two booster doses and people who received one additional dose and one booster dose.
COVID-19 Updated (Bivalent) Booster Dose Administration, United States
5,571,393
Total New Admissions
4,201
Current 7-Day Average
3,572
Prior 7-Day Average
+17.6%
Change in 7-Day Average
The start of consistent reporting of hospital admissions data was August 1, 2020.
Daily Trends in Number of New COVID-19 Hospital Admissions in the United States
New admissions are pulled from a 10 am EDT snapshot of the HHS Unified Hospital Data – Analytic Dataset. Due to potential reporting delays, data from the most recent 7 days, as noted in the figure above with the grey bar, should be interpreted with caution. Small shifts in historic data may also occur due to changes in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Provider of Services file, which is used to identify the cohort of included hospitals.
COVID-NET: Recent Trends in Hospitalization Rates among Adults and Children (All Ages)
CDC’s Coronavirus Disease 2019-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) shows that COVID-19-associated hospitalizations have remained relatively stable for more than two months. Hospitalization rates among people of all ages declined from a recent peak of 9.6 per 100,000 population for the week ending July 30, 2022, and have remained below 6.5 per 100,000 population since the week ending September 17, 2022.
Weekly Rates of COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations among Adults and Children (All Ages)
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) is an additional source for hospitalization data collected through a network of more than 250 acute-care hospitals in 14 states (representing ~10% of the U.S. population). Detailed data on patient demographics, including race/ethnicity, underlying medical conditions, medical interventions, and clinical outcomes, are collected using a standardized case reporting form.
Deaths
The current 7-day average of new deaths (254) decreased 32.4% compared with the previous 7-day average (376). As of November 30, 2022, a total of 1,077,303 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States.
1,077,303
Total Deaths Reported
254
Current 7-Day Average*
376
Prior 7-Day Average
-32.4%
Change in 7-Day Average Since Prior Period
*Historical deaths are excluded from the weekly new deaths and 7-day average calculations until they are incorporated into the dataset by their applicable date. Of 1,037 historical deaths reported retroactively, none were reported in the current week and none were reported in the prior week.
Testing
The percentage of COVID-19 NAATs (nucleic acid amplification tests)* that are positive is increasing in comparison to the previous week. The 7-day average of percent positivity from NAATs is now 10.7%. The 7-day average number of tests reported for November 18–24, 2022, was 315,090, down 19.1% from 389,670 for the prior 7 days.
987,669,827
Total Tests Reported
315,090
7-Day Average Tests Reported
10.7%
7-Day Average % Positivity
8.7%
Previous 7-Day Average % Positivity
+2.01
Percentage point change in 7-Day Average % Positivity since Prior Week
*Test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19
COVID-19 NAAT Laboratory Test 7-day Percent Positivity by State/Territory
Wastewater Surveillance
COVID Data Tracker’s Wastewater Surveillance tab tracks levels, changes, and detections of SARS-CoV-2* viral RNA in wastewater at over 1,200 testing sites across the country.
Currently, about 50% of the country is reporting moderate to high SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater. About 22% of sites reporting wastewater data are currently seeing some of the highest levels for those sites since December 1, 2021. About 34% of sites are experiencing a decrease in SARS-CoV-2 levels, and about 58% are reporting an increase.
For more information on how to use wastewater data, visit CDC’s wastewater surveillance website.
*The virus that causes COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2 Levels in Wastewater by Site
0% denotes that levels are the lowest they have been at the site; 100% denotes that levels are the highest they have been at the site.