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For adults who are immunocompromised, the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine reduced risk of hospitalization compared with not getting the shot, according to CDC data.

Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization was 38% in the first 7 to 59 days after receipt of the updated monovalent XBB.1.5 COVID vaccine, and 34% in the 60 to 119 days after receipt, reported Ruth Link-Gelles, PhD, of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and colleagues in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

However, despite the positive effect, only 18% of people in this high-risk population had received the updated COVID vaccine, "representing a missed opportunity to prevent severe COVID-19," the authors wrote.

Camille Kotton, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told MedPage Today, "I am very disappointed ... that only 18% of immunocompromised patients took the opportunity to protect themselves against COVID-19. We need better messaging from the CDC and medical organizations for people to update their vaccines." Head over to MedPage Today to read more about it.