As we head into 2022, the omicron COVID-19 variant is sweeping the U.S. and 72% of the population is vaccinated. But which states hold the top numbers for vaccinations?
Vermont and Puerto Rico have remained steadily in the top two spots, with Rhode Island, Maine and Connecticut close behind, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. On the contrary, the states with the least amount of people fully vaccinated are Idaho, Alabama and Wyoming.
Vermont credits its vaccine success to the “barnstorming approach” that enlists help from local officials and emergency medical services officials has been effective in rural Vermont. Vaccines are sometimes offered at employers’ places of business.
“The reality is we’ve brought the vaccine to places where I don’t think other states have even dreamed you could do that,” Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine previously said. “Now we are finding that some of them are trying to mirror what we’ve done here.”
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Here’s how the island did it: Puerto Rico has some of the best COVID-19 vaccination rates in the US.
In Puerto Rico, where over 5 million vaccine doses have been administered, island officials attribute their success the near-absence of the political divide that has marked the pandemic elsewhere within the United States. Officials also credit clear public health messaging and a population that’s already familiar with health and natural crisis.
“We went through Zika. We’ve been through Dengue fever. While we have never seen anything to this level before, our people, they are responsive and they are responsible in facing this pandemic,” Governor Pedro Pierluisi, who took office in January, has said. “This is a citizen’s responsibility.”
Here’s a list of the top 10 highest and lowest fully vaccinated rates per state. The CDC and VeryWell analysis calculated the following list by estimating how many fully vaccinated people there are per 100,000 residents.
Top 10 states with highest fully vaccinated population
1. Vermont
2. Puerto Rico
3. Rhode Island
4. Maine
5. Connecticut
6. Massachusetts
7. West Virginia
8. New York
9. Maryland and New Jersey
10. Virginia
Bottom 10 states with least amount of fully vaccinated population
43. North Dakota.
44. Indiana.
45. Tennessee.
46. Arkansas.
47. Georgia.
48. Louisiana.
49. Mississippi.
50. Alabama.
51. Wyoming.
52. Idaho.
Contributed: The Associated Press
Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda
