As of a few days ago, only about 7 million Americans — roughly two percent (2%)— have elected to take the new “updated” shots produced by Moderna (MRNA.O), Pfizer (PFE.N), and BioNTech (22UAy.DE) which purport to target the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus.

By comparison, 18 million people — or more than 2.5 times as many — had received last year’s booster by this time in 2022. In the end, 17% of the U.S. population, or 56.5 million people, ultimately received last year’s versions of the vaccine. The current statistical trajectory suggests that ultimately the number of Americans receiving this year’s booster will fall far short of that.