Roughly 98% of people eligible to receive latest COVID booster have not received one

Barely 1.5% of Americans eligible to receive the updated COVID shot have acquired one, according to federal data, a sign that U.S. antipathy to the shots is continuing to grow even as experts have insisted on the need to regularly receive a new COVID booster.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that around 98% of Americans who could receive the latest COVID booster have not obtained one. The CDC authorized the distribution of updated Moderna and Pfizer boosters earlier this month. 

The low booster numbers come as COVID caseloads continue to decline in the U.S. after a modest uptick that began in May of this year. Deaths have remained largely flat over that time, suggesting that prior infection rates and vaccinations are helping to keep mortality rates low. 

A factor likely to further limit booster uptake rates is Joe Biden's claim earlier this week that the pandemic is effectively "over." 

Dr. Scott Roberts, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist, told NBC News that the low booster uptake was "demoralizing."

"I would expect a much higher proportion of Americans to have gotten the booster by this point," he said.