The advance payments end in 2021, so unless congress decides otherwise there will be no advance in 2022. Reminds me of years ago when IRS offered advance EIC payments so the money could arrive monthly to help with bills instead of all at once at tax time. After a few years they discontinued that option because of lack of interest. Anybody remember that?
An issue this year will be that people will be surprised when their refund is lower than usual because they already got some of the credit. For example, if they normally get a CTC of $4000 for two children, this year they are entitled to $6000 but already got $3k, so the credit on their tax return will be $3k instead of $4k. They might notice that. I am so not looking forward to the coming tax season!