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The vaccination rollout in the United States has been remarkable, as in less than six months almost 50% of the population has been vaccinated. More than 154 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Although the pandemic continues, vaccines are working as hospitalizations and deaths due to the virus are decreasing. The rapid pace of immunization among the elderly has prevented many deaths in this population, but the U.S. still faces the challenge of convincing its younger population to get vaccinated.
Vaccination in the United States by age
As announced by the CDC, almost 54.2 % of the population has received a dose and more than 46.4 % have been fully vaccinated. Among people over 65 years of age, 42 million have received two doses, while about 5 million are waiting for the second dose. Nearly 88% of the U.S. population over 65 years of age has received at least one dose of vaccines.
More than 123 million Americans over the age of 18 and under the age of 65 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, of which 105 million have already received both doses. Vaccination among minors has also progressed relatively quickly, with more than 8.6 million minors over the age of 12 having already received a dose.
The pace of vaccination has slowed
As shown by the vaccination trend published by the CDC, the pace of vaccination has fallen across the United States and, at the time of writing this article, the number of doses administered daily is back to the same as it was at the beginning of the year when vaccine availability was low, about 650,000 doses per day.
The United States reached its peak vaccination on April 11 when the supply was 1,362,000 doses that day. Since then, the number of doses administered per day has plummeted and authorities are now looking for ways to convince millions of Americans of the need to get vaccinated.
Vaccination rates vary by county and state
The situation is paradoxical, with some counties are close to herd immunity, while in others, vaccination has barely taken off. While in the state of New York all counties already exceed 50% of the vaccinated population, in Virginia only one county, Highland County, exceeds that percentage. Of the rest, with the exception of 7 counties, none has vaccinated more than 30% of its population.
The trend is accentuated in other southern states of the nation, such as Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. The situation is especially worrisome in Georgia, where the pace of vaccination has been slower than in the rest of the country.
Vaccination demographics
Although CDC data does not allow inferences about the race or ethnicity of all vaccinees, the race or ethnicity of at least 103 million Americans is known. According to the figures provided by the CDC, at least 23% of African-Americans have already been vaccinated, as well as 30% of the white population, 32% of Hispanics, 33% of the Asian population and almost 40% of Native Americans.
Women are more likely to be vaccinated than men. They account for more than 53% of those who have been fully vaccinated in the United States. While 86 million women have already been vaccinated, men lag behind with 77 million.
Economist, writer and liberal. With a focus on finance, the war on drugs, history, and geopolitics // Economista, escritor y liberal. Con enfoque en finanzas, guerra contra las drogas, historia y geopolítica