Renewing the layer of protection that vaccines provide against COVID-19 is the indisputable advantage of getting a booster shot, and many people here who are worried about their waning immunity already are welcoming the chance to ease those fears.

Health-care providers are only too happy to give it to them. Over the weekend, 13,775 vaccine shots went out, and the tally of boosters has been edging up along with those getting first or second doses. That’s good news, as is the gradual decline in infections, measured by the seven-day average.

But the average is still over 300 cases, higher than the summer peak of 2020, Gov. David Ige on Monday reminded viewers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” webcast. Other clear signs that there’s work to do include Hawaii’s ongoing dependence on traveling medical crews in the health-care system, and an increase in breakthrough cases among the fully vaccinated due to the delta variant of the virus.

The overall aim must be to cut back radically the amount of virus in the community, safeguarding as much of the population as possible from serious illness, and especially from a death rate that is still startlingly high. That means boosters, but it also includes continued vigilance on mask-wearing and other precautions as the risk levels gradually tick downward.

Hawaii residents can be forgiven for being utterly baffled by the messaging at the federal level, starting with President Joe Biden. After the first booster shots were rolled out for those with weak immune systems, the president said that boosters would be available to everyone starting Sept. 20.

The Food and Drug Administration said otherwise. It recommended limiting further distribution to adults over 65, younger adults with underlying medical conditions, and those at risk due to occupational or institutional exposure. Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eliminated the occupational category, but the final call from the CDC was to include that group as well.

The state Department of Health appropriately puts the top priority on maximizing the number of the unvaccinated who receive shots, while also pushing out booster doses for the most vulnerable due to age or health conditions. Given that the state is likely to receive fewer vaccine shipments than health officials would like, it’s a reasonable stance.

In the current environment, the high levels of virus — as well as ongoing social and commercial interactions — can pierce the armor of even a full vaccination. As of Aug. 26, according to DOH, Hawaii had logged about 2,400 breakthrough cases. So it’s not as rare an occurrence as most people imagined.

The primary aim of the boosters is to strengthen the protection against serious, active infections, but entirely blocking more of the breakthrough cases would help, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top Biden pandemic adviser, has said.

Still, since full protection is anything but certain, everyone — vaccinated or not, boosted or not — needs to maintain masking and other protocols such as physical distancing. Getting the infection rate to the low levels at which the state can stand on its own will require much more work.

Ige rightly pointed out that although current restrictions were imposed six weeks ago, case counts have not fallen sufficiently. Letting down one’s guard still could cause a new spike, he said, which then would take even longer, harder restrictions to suppress. We can all agree: Nobody wants that.