What were US COVID-19 vaccination coverage rates by year from 2020 to 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the U.S. rose sharply during 2020–2021 and has declined year‑by‑year since, with 2024–2025 and 2025 seasons cited as having substantially lower uptake and booster coverage than at the pandemic’s height (examples: steady decline noted by Oregon officials and national analyses of county/state declines) [1] [2] [3]. Detailed, year‑by‑year national percentages for 2020–2025 are not provided in the supplied sources; available sources document trends, local rates, and analyses of post‑pandemic declines rather than a single authoritative annual national coverage table (not found in current reporting).
1. What the supplied reporting actually says about trends
Multiple articles and analyses in the supplied reporting describe a marked rise in vaccination uptake early in the pandemic and then “steady decline every year in vaccination rates since 2020,” a characterization made by Oregon public‑health leaders and repeated in regional reporting [1] [2]. KFF’s county‑level work likewise documents persistent differences in who remains “fully vaccinated” and who has taken boosters over time, underscoring rising geographic and partisan divergence rather than a uniform national pattern [3].
2. Local snapshots, not a national annual series
The set of sources includes state and local snapshots—Oregon’s 2025 seasonal uptake (around 9% of Oregonians had received that season’s COVID vaccine, according to Oregon officials cited) and reporting of declining kindergarten and childhood vaccine coverage in many counties—rather than a national, year‑by‑year breakdown for COVID vaccine coverage from 2020 through 2025 [1] [2] [4]. Those local datapoints illustrate the broader narrative of falling demand but do not substitute for a single national sequence of annual coverage percentages (not found in current reporting).
3. Evidence of the health consequences of lower uptake
Analysts and researchers cited in these pieces warn that lower COVID vaccine uptake leaves populations more vulnerable to severe outcomes and seasonal surges. CIDRAP notes that 2024–2025 vaccines were effective against severe illness and warns of a difficult respiratory season when combined with low vaccination rates [5]. This frames declining coverage as a public‑health concern even when vaccine effectiveness against severe disease remains demonstrable [5].
4. Drivers and competing explanations in the reporting
Sources attribute the decline to multiple, sometimes competing, factors: narrower official recommendations (targeting older adults and high‑risk groups rather than universal dosing), fading perceived risk as deaths fell after 2020–2021, and broader erosion of confidence that spilled into other vaccine programs [1] [2] [6]. KFF’s analysis highlights political partisanship as a strong predictor of who remains vaccinated versus who does not, offering an explanatory angle that complements state‑level observations [3].
5. Disagreement and uncertainty in the sources
There is disagreement about policy efficacy and causation. A 2025 academic study summarized in reporting found “no consistent evidence” that indoor vaccine mandates substantially increased first‑dose uptake in nine major U.S. cities, challenging assumptions that mandates reliably boost coverage [7]. At the same time, public‑health officials argue that widespread early pandemic uptake was driven by fear of severe illness—an interpretation that emphasizes changing incentives rather than policy failure [1]. Both perspectives appear in the supplied sources [7] [1].
6. What the supplied sources do not provide
The supplied results do not provide a single authoritative table of U.S. COVID‑19 vaccination coverage by year for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. They also do not provide CDC national annual percentage figures or an explicit national time series for “fully vaccinated” and booster rates across all those years in one place (not found in current reporting). Where year‑specific national percentages are required, one must consult primary CDC immunization reports or other national data releases not included here.
7. How to get the precise year‑by‑year figures you asked for
To produce the exact annual national coverage percentages you requested, the appropriate next step is to consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccination surveillance publications or the CDC COVID‑19 Data Tracker for historical coverage tables; these sources are not among the supplied materials (not found in current reporting). The supplied news and analysis pieces are useful for understanding trends, local variation, policy debates, and consequences but cannot substitute for an authoritative national annual dataset [5] [3] [1].
Limitations: This summary relies only on the documents you provided; where those documents lack national year‑by‑year numbers, I have noted that absence rather than invent figures [1] [5] [3].