CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — America is getting vaccinated but the numbers vary state to state.
Among the top ten, New England has everyone beat. Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island with about half the population fully vaccinated.
Hawaii, California, Colorado and California are over the 40% mark for full vaccination.
In places like Wyoming, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, less than a third of the population is fully vaccinated.
It’s the same in Arkansas where tens of thousands of doses of the vaccine are set to expire before the end of the month due to fewer people getting the shot.
No surprise to doctors like Arkansas Department of Health State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha.
“The hesitancy we’ve seen are the vaccines in general,” said Dillaha. “The demand for vaccination has peaked.”
President Joe Biden aims to have 70% of the U.S. receiving their first dose by Independence Day.
“52% of adults are now fully vaccinated, including 75% of all seniors. 28 states and the District of Columbia have achieved 50% of adults being fully vaccinated in their jurisdictions. And it’s clear than ever, The more people we get vaccinated, the more success we’re going to have,” said Biden in remarks Wednesday encouraging increased inoculation.
Senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Dr. Amesh Adaljah, says those stats mean the U.S. has already hit a major milestone.
“The goal of the vaccination campaign was not to get to COVID zero, that’s not possible. It was to remove the ability of the virus to cause serious disease, hospitalization and death,” said Adaljah. “And getting vaccine into the highest risk individuals those above 65… and we know that people above 65 about 75% of them are fully vaccinated and that’s why hospital capacity is no longer a concern.”
Still campaigns to get people vaccinated have been creative in both the private and public sector.
Ohio and several other states are giving away $1 million and a college scholarships.
Grocery chain Kroger is giving away $5 million in cash prizes and free groceries.
Anheuser Busch is giving free beer if 70% of all U.S. adults are partially vaccinated by July 4th.
While Americans might have their eyes on the prize, Health experts are looking ahead to the fall.
“So over the summer…right now we’re not going to see a lot of differences among states in terms of covid and high vaccination versus low vaccination because the transmission is going to be low everywhere. In the fall, I do expect to see differences in transmission between high vaccination states and low vaccination states,” said Epidemiologist at UC Irvine Dr. Andrew Noymer.