After months of planning, the US government’s “warp speed” launch of COVID-19 vaccines instead progressed at a snail’s pace, threatening to prolong local blockades and increase the number of virus deaths in America.
Still, a month after the effort began – the biggest inoculation effort in American history – some states are moving quickly to vaccinate their populations, according to government data analyzed by CBS MoneyWatch. Other parts of the country are long overdue.
West Virginia has distributed almost 90% of its supply of the first vaccine injection and should be done by inoculating nursing residents with two doses by the end of January. Firemen, police and state paramedics – one of the poorest in the country – are also close to total vaccination.
Many other states are struggling to launch their vaccination efforts. In all, less than a third of all doses that have been distributed throughout the country (and to the territories of the USA), or 10.3 million of almost 30 million, were given to people.
CBS MoneyWatch spoke to health experts, government officials and hospital administrators in the United States to find out what is working – and isn’t working – in a hurry to vaccinate Americans against the lethal disease. Which states are managing to place doses in the arms of their residents? Which states are still fighting? It’s because?
Here are some of the lessons so far in America Vaccine for covid-19 get up.
States left behind
Among the most populous states in the country, Georgia, Virginia and California are the most backward in delivering the vaccine to residents. According to the most recent data from the CDC, Georgia administered less than 20% of the vaccine doses delivered to the state – the lowest percentage of any state in America.
Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp started vaccinating residents 65 and older, as well as police and other first responders, to accelerate the effort beyond the initial group of health professionals and nursing home residents. receiving vaccines. For now, however, this is causing more problems. A state website has scheduled vaccinations at 4 am, or four hours before the opening time of the Atlanta site that offers vaccines. Other vaccine programming sites are breaking.
Strict adherence to CDC guidelines that health professionals are vaccinated first appears to be one of the problems plaguing several states that have been left behind. For example, officials in Virginia initially said the state would not move on to the next vaccination stage until February. Although that date has changed, Virginia still managed less than 25% of its vaccine stock.
California, which administered only 26% of the vaccines available in the state, has also launched mass vaccination sites – including Disneyland in Anaheim – and this week opened the vaccine’s eligibility to residents 65 and older.
Other backward states have relied too much on untested distribution networks, experts said. Arkansas, whose CDC data shows it managed only 33% of its vaccine stock, included more than 200 pharmacies in its initial vaccination plans. That was a mistake, said Dr. Cam Patterson, dean of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who runs hospitals and treatment centers across the state.
Authorities in Arkansas and some other states dispute the CDC data. Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, who heads the state’s immunization efforts, said her state received fewer doses than the health agency says and administered 41% of the vaccine they received on Wednesday afternoon. Dillaha also said that pharmacies have been delayed, although noting that including them is part of the state’s long-term plan.
“We want our immunization infrastructure to be stronger than after the pandemic,” said Dillaha.
States ahead of the curve
Many public health experts warned before the vaccine launch that rural parts of the U.S. would have a disadvantage over cities in distributing the vaccine. However, less populous states like North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia are among those that are doing a better job of vaccinating their residents.
West Virginia distributed almost 70% of all doses of the vaccine it received from the federal government, according to the most recent data from the CDC, ranking first among the states classified by this metric. About 110,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Mountain State, or nearly the same amount that has been administered so far in Wisconsin, which has nearly tripled the population.
The difference: West Virginia, unlike other states, relied heavily on its National Guard to lead other state agencies in the vaccination effort, as well as to transport doses when necessary. It was also the only state to choose not to participate in a nationwide national asylum vaccination program, developed by the CDC and administered by the drugstore chains CVS and Walgreens, which many said were progressing slowly.
West Virginia also vaccinated different populations of at-risk and essential workers at the same time – as residents over 70, police and fire, as well as those working in major industrial sectors and aged 50 or over – instead of reserving all your doses to healthcare professionals.
“We took 10,000 square feet from our National Guard headquarters and turned it into a command center with representatives from all levels of the state government,” said Major General James Hoyer, who retired from the National Guard earlier this month, but remained a civilian to continue managing West Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccination effort. “Young soldiers and airmen are distributing the vaccine across the state. We operate this as a military convoy ”.
South Dakota took a different approach. The state has partnered with its three main healthcare networks, dividing the state and allowing medical facilities to manage the distributions on their own, according to Dr. David Basel, head of Avera Medical’s vaccination effort, based in Sioux Falls and one of the three medical groups in the state who is receiving vaccine.
This seems to have worked. South Dakota administered nearly 60% of the vaccine that was allocated by the US government. “Our biggest problem has been the weather,” said Basel in a week when the state faced temperatures of 20 degrees and more than a blizzard. “One of our first shipments came out in a snowstorm. A truck ended up in a ditch, but we released it in time and no vaccine was damaged.”
How each state is doing
The figures below are based on state data and the January 13 CDC. The percentages represent the number of vaccines administered versus how many doses each state received. The US average was 35% on Wednesday. (In some cases, the most recent CDC numbers may not include state or local data, which can be delayed by several days.)
| State / Territory / Federal Entity | % of vaccine administered |
| Alabama | 22% |
| Alaska | 26% |
| American Samoa | 24% |
| Arizona | 27% |
| Arkansas | 32% |
| Department of Prisons | 98% |
| California | 26% |
| Colorado | 45% |
| Connecticut | 51% |
| Delaware | 31% |
| Department of Defense | 34% |
| District of Colombia | 48% |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 6% |
| Florida | 42% |
| Georgia | 20% |
| Guam | 11% |
| Hawaii | 24% |
| Idaho | 25% |
| Illinois | 40% |
| Indian health service | 26% |
| Indiana | 36% |
| Iowa | 42% |
| Kansas | 33% |
| Kentucky | 43% |
| Louisiana | 42% |
| Maine | 42% |
| Marshall Islands | 5% |
| Maryland | 32% |
| Massachusetts | 33% |
| Michigan | 38% |
| Minnesota | 32% |
| Mississippi | 28% |
| Missouri | 31% |
| Montana | 49% |
| Nebraska | 40% |
| Nevada | 30% |
| New Hampshire | 44% |
| New Jersey | 40% |
| New Mexico | 41% |
| New York State | 35% |
| North Caroline | 31% |
| North Dakota | 61% |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 22% |
| Ohio | 34% |
| Oklahoma | 43% |
| Oregon | 35% |
| Pennsylvania | 37% |
| Puerto Rico | 28% |
| Republic of Palau | 12% |
| Rhode Island | 51% |
| South Carolina | 31% |
| South Dakota | 57% |
| Tennessee | 44% |
| Texas | 49% |
| Utah | 39% |
| Vermont | 42% |
| Veterans Health | 27% |
| Virgin Islands | 12% |
| Virginia | 24% |
| Washington | 36% |
| West Virginia | 69% |
| Wisconsin | 31% |
| Wyoming | 31% |