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How many people in the US have never been vaccinated for Covid-19 as of 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting does not provide a single, definitive count of how many people in the U.S. have never received any COVID‑19 vaccine as of 2025; public sources focus on coverage rates, uptake trends, and which groups remain more likely to be unvaccinated rather than a precise national tally (not found in current reporting). Multiple outlets indicate high overall initial uptake (often cited as over 70–90% in specific cohorts or surveys) but also rising gaps in seasonal booster uptake and persistent unvaccinated pockets, especially among some young adults and children [1] [2] [3].
1. What the available sources actually measure — and what they don’t
Public reporting and guidance in 2025 center on who should get updated seasonal COVID‑19 vaccines, vaccine effectiveness, and who remains at higher risk if never vaccinated, rather than publishing a single national count of people who have never received any COVID‑19 vaccine; a direct figure is not provided in the materials you supplied (not found in current reporting). The CDC and professional groups emphasize that people who have “never received a COVID‑19 vaccine” are a high‑priority group for updated doses, signaling concern about an identifiable but unquantified population [3] [4].
2. Signals from coverage and uptake data cited in reporting
Several pieces point to strong historical uptake of initial vaccine series and lower uptake of recent seasonal doses: reporting notes more than 90% of some studied groups had at least one dose in particular surveys, while seasonal uptake in 2024–25 was far lower — for example, just 11% of adults 18–29 got a vaccine during the 2024‑25 season, showing declining recent booster rates though not necessarily the share who were never vaccinated [1]. AARP and CDC materials also focus on millions of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths in 2024–25, underlining why agencies push for broader vaccination even as uptake falls [5].
3. Who is likelier to be unvaccinated, by sources
The reporting identifies demographic and belief patterns associated with non‑vaccination: young adults (particularly 18–29) had very low seasonal shot rates in 2024–25, and studies cited by journalists found unvaccinated respondents were more likely to endorse misinformation about vaccines [1]. Clinical guidance and professional groups call out unvaccinated children and immunocompromised patients as especially important groups to reach, but these sources do not translate that into a national never‑vaccinated headcount [2] [6].
4. Why a precise “never‑vaccinated” number is hard to produce from these sources
The materials supplied mix types of data — clinical guidance, journalistic reporting, institutional advisories and select studies — none of which publish a single administrative dataset enumerating every person who never received any COVID vaccine nationwide. National estimates would require harmonized administrative or survey data from CDC/health departments or academic analyses; the documents here instead provide guidance, vaccine recommendations, and selective survey/age‑group uptake figures (not found in current reporting; [4]; p1_s9).
5. Competing interpretations and what they imply
Public health entities like CDC and specialty societies frame the issue as: many people are “up to date” historically, but recent seasonal coverage is low and certain groups remain unvaccinated or under‑vaccinated — this supports targeted outreach and prioritization for boosters [3] [6]. Journalists and analysts emphasize behavioral drivers — misinformation and a sense of invulnerability among youth — as explanations for persistent non‑vaccination, suggesting policy and communication responses could differ depending on whether the barrier is access or belief [1].
6. If you need a numerical estimate — where to look next
To get a rigorous 2025 estimate of people who have never received any COVID‑19 vaccine, consult CDC national vaccination coverage datasets, state immunization registries, or large, representative household surveys that ask lifetime vaccination history; those sources are not included in the documents you provided (not found in current reporting). For context on trends and risk groups, use CDC guidance and recent reporting from major health outlets and professional societies cited above [3] [1] [2].
Limitations: this analysis uses only the documents you provided; none of them contains a direct nationwide count of people who have never been vaccinated against COVID‑19, so I cannot supply a concrete 2025 number from these sources (not found in current reporting).