(HealthDay News) — Only 20 states reached President Joe Biden’s goal to get at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of 70% of American adults by the Fourth of July.
As of Sunday, states with lower rates of vaccination reported an average of six new cases per 100,000 residents every day during the past week, according to Johns Hopkins. States with higher vaccination rates only reported an average of 2.2 new cases per 100,000 residents each day during the past week.
Arkansas, where less than 35% of residents are fully vaccinated, averaged 16 new cases per 100,000 residents every day during the past week. That is about five times the nationwide rate of new cases, CNN reported. The state is one of 10 where the rate of new cases jumped more than 25% during the past week. Of those, all but one — Delaware — had below-average vaccination rates, CNN said.
In contrast, Vermont leads the country in vaccination rates, with 66% of its residents fully vaccinated. Vermont also has the lowest rate of new COVID-19 cases — less than one per 100,000 residents each day during the past week, according to Johns Hopkins. That is a decrease of nearly 16% from the previous week, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, parts of the South, Southwest and Midwest are starting to see surges, Jonathan Reiner, M.D., a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, told CNN. Florida is getting hit particularly hard, with about 17% of all new cases in the United States being reported there, he said. As for young people who do not think they need to get vaccinated, Reiner said his hospital has seen plenty of young adults suffering from COVID-19 or complications of long-haul COVID-19 months after infection.
