Most states have not yet managed to get at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine to even a third of their elderly residents.
As of early February, Alaska had vaccinated 37% of its seniors and West Virginia 34%, the only states that have vaccinated more than a third of their seniors, according to new research from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The slowest-vaccinating states are Pennsylvania, at 10%, and Maryland, at 15%.
The report examined the 29 states and the District of Colombia that have expanded vaccinations to those aged 65 and older since the Trump administration advised states to do so in mid-January. Of those states, 19 report vaccination data for those aged 65 and up or 60 and up.
On average, those states have managed to vaccinate less than 23% of their seniors.
Those aged 65 and older have the highest rates of hospitalization and deaths from COVID-19. The more time it takes to vaccinate seniors, the longer it will be before vaccines are expanded to those below age 65 and before the United States achieves herd immunity. The Bloomberg COVID-19 Tracker estimates that at the present pace, it will take 10 months to vaccinate 75% of the U.S. population.
The report notes that seniors face many problems when trying to receive a vaccine, “including not knowing how to schedule appointments or where to get vaccinated, waiting in long lines, or arriving for an appointment to find vaccines no longer available.”
