Annual COVID-19 Boosters Provide Meaningful Additional Protection, Study Finds

A study published in JAMA Network Open found that adults who received the 2025–2026 COVID-19 vaccine were approximately 55% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and 50% less likely to require emergency or urgent care compared to those who did not receive the updated vaccine. The research, conducted by Dr. Ryan Wiegand at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and colleagues, analyzed data from over 110,000 emergency department visits and hospital admissions across seven U.S. states. The findings suggest that updated boosters offer significant additional protection, even for individuals with residual immunity from previous infections or vaccinations.