After months of planning, US government launches “warp speed” COVID-19 vaccines instead progressed at a snail’s pace, threatening to prolong local blockades and increase the death toll in America.
However, a month after the effort – the largest inoculation unit in American history – some states are moving fast to vaccinate their populations, according to government data reviewed by CBS MoneyWatch. Other parts of the country remain very weak.
West Virginia has distributed nearly 90 percent of its first shot vaccine supply and is expected to inoculate two-dose nursing residents by the end of January. Firefighters, police and EMTs in the state – one of the poorest in the country – are also approaching full vaccination.
Many other states are struggling to develop vaccination efforts. In total, less than a third of the doses that were distributed throughout the country (and the US), or 10.3 million of the nearly 30 million were given to humans.
CBS MoneyWatch spoke with health experts, government officials and hospital administrators in the United States to find out what works – and doesn’t work – in the rush to vaccinate Americans against the deadly disease. What states manage to receive doses in the arms of their residents? Which states are still fighting? And why?
Here are some of the lessons from America so far Vaccine covid-19 roll.
The states that are left behind
Among the nation’s most populous states, Georgia, Virginia and California are the furthest away from distributing the vaccine to residents. According to the latest CDC data, Georgia has administered less than 20% of the vaccine doses administered to the state – the lowest percentage of any state in America.
Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp opened vaccinations for residents over the age of 65, as well as police and other responders, to speed up the effort beyond the initial group of health workers and nursing home residents concerned. for fires. For now, however, this is causing more problems. A state website has scheduled vaccinations for 4 a.m. or four hours before the Atlanta website offers photos to open. Other vaccine programming sites have collapsed.
Strict adherence to the CDC’s guidelines for vaccinating health workers first seems to be one of the issues affecting many lagging states. For example, Virginia officials initially said the state would not move to the next stage of vaccinations until February. Although it has moved since then, Virginia has still administered less than 25 percent of its vaccine supply.
California, which has administered only 26 percent of the vaccines available in the state, has also launched mass vaccination sites – including Disneyland in Anaheim – and this week opened vaccine eligibility for residents 65 and older.
Other delayed states have relied too much on untested distribution networks, experts said. Arkansas, which shows CDC data administered only 33% of the photo stock, included more than 200 pharmacies in its initial vaccination plans. That was a mistake, said Dr. Cam Patterson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which runs hospitals and treatment centers across the state.
Officials in Arkansas and other states dispute the CDC’s data. Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, who is leading the state’s immunization efforts, said her state received fewer doses than the health agency says and that they had given 41 percent of the vaccine they had received since Wednesday afternoon. Dillaha also said that the pharmacies had delays, while mentioning that their inclusion is part of the state’s long-term plan.
“We want our immunization infrastructure to be stronger than it was after the pandemic,” Dillaha said.
States before the curve
Many public health experts have warned before vaccine launch that rural areas of the US would have a disadvantage over cities in distributing the vaccine. However, less populous states, such as North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia, are among those doing a better job of vaccinating their people.
West Virginia distributed nearly 70 percent of all vaccine doses it received from the federal government, according to the latest CDC data, ranking first among states ranked by that value. About 110,000 doses of the vaccine have been given in the state of Mountain, or about the same amount that has been given so far in Wisconsin, which has nearly tripled the population.
The difference: West Virginia, unlike other states, relied heavily on the National Guard to lead other state agencies in the vaccination effort, as well as to transport doses where needed. It was also the only state to drop a national vaccination program for nursing homes across the country, which was developed by the CDC and is run by the CVS and Walgreens drugstore chains, which many said are progressing slowly. .
West Virginia has also vaccinated different at-risk populations and key workers at the same time – such as residents over the age of 70, police and firefighters, as well as those working in key manufacturing sectors and over the age of 50 – rather than reserving all doses for health care workers.
“We took 10,000 square meters of National Guard headquarters and turned it into a command center with representatives from all levels of state government,” said General James Hoyer, who retired from the National Guard at the beginning. this month, but remained as a civilian to continue managing the COVID-19 vaccination effort in West Virginia. “Young soldiers and airmen are distributing the vaccine throughout the state. We run this like a military convoy.”
South Dakota has taken a different approach. The state has collaborated with the three main health networks, dividing the state and allowing medical facilities to manage distributions on their own, according to Dr. David Basel, head of the vaccination effort for Avera Medical, based in Sioux Falls and one of three groups. state medical that is, vaccination.
That seems to have worked. South Dakota administered almost 60% of the vaccine allocated by the US government. “Our biggest problem was the weather,” Basel said in a week when the state faced temperatures of 20 degrees and more than one snowfall. “One of our first expeditions came out in a snowstorm. A truck ended up in a ditch, but we took it out on time and no vaccine broke down.”
How each state works
The numbers below are based on state and CDC data from January 13th. The percentages represent the number of vaccines administered compared to how many doses each state received. The US average has been 35% since Wednesday. (In some cases, the latest CDC numbers may not include state or local data, which may remain for a few days.)
| State / territory / federal entity | % of vaccine administered |
| Alabama | 22% |
| Alaska | 26% |
| American Samoa | 24% |
| Arizona | 27% |
| Arkansas | 32% |
| The prison office | 98% |
| California | 26% |
| COLORADO | 45% |
| Connecticut | 51% |
| Delaware | 31% |
| Department of Defense | 34% |
| District of Columbia | 48% |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 6% |
| Florida | 42% |
| Georgia | 20% |
| Guam | 11% |
| Hawaii | 24% |
| Idaho | 25% |
| Illinois | 40% |
| Indian Health Service | 26% |
| Indian | 36% |
| Iowa | 42% |
| Kansas | 33% |
| Kentucky | 43% |
| Louisiana | 42% |
| Tomorrow | 42% |
| Marshall Islands | 5% |
| Maryland | 32% |
| Massachusetts | 33% |
| Michigan | 38% |
| Minnesota | 32% |
| Mississippi | 28% |
| Missouri | 31% |
| mountain | 49% |
| Nebraska | 40% |
| Nevada | 30% |
| New Hampshire | 44% |
| New Jersey | 40% |
| New Mexico | 41% |
| New York State | 35% |
| North Carolina | 31% |
| North Dakota | 61% |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 22% |
| Ohio | 34% |
| Oklahoma | 43% |
| Oregon | 35% |
| Pennsylvania | 37% |
| Puerto Rico | 28% |
| Republic Palace | 12% |
| Rhode Island | 51% |
| South Carolina | 31% |
| South Dakota | 57% |
| Tennessee | 44% |
| Texas | 49% |
| Utah | 39% |
| Vermont | 42% |
| Veterans’ health | 27% |
| Virgin Islands | 12% |
| virgin | 24% |
| Washington | 36% |
| West Virginia | 69% |
| Wisconsin | 31% |
| Wyoming | 31% |