Hawaii becomes the first state to have 90% of eligible residents vaccinated against Covid

By Dora W. Deese On Oct 9, 2021

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Top line

Hawaii was the first state to provide coronavirus vaccines to 90% of its residents 12 years and older as of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new milestone for the most heavily vaccinated state in the country.

Tiffany Karschamroon takes a dose from a vial of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at an event … [+] on March 6, 2021 in Thornton, Colorado.

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Important facts

Approximately 1,089,984 Hawaiian residents over the age of 11 – or 90% of the state’s eligible population – had received at least one Covid-19 vaccination by Friday, according to the CDC. is well above the national rate of 76.3% Counting.

Hawaii has vaccinated virtually all seniors and 95% of people between the ages of 50 and 64, while 76% of children ages 12 and older are either partially or fully vaccinated, so data published by the state.

tangent

Seven other states have vaccination rates 12 and over above 85%: Massachusetts (89.2%), Vermont (88.6%), Connecticut (88.4%), Rhode Island (86.9%), New Mexico (85, 8%), New Jersey (85.3%), and Pennsylvania (85.3%). At the other end of the spectrum, West Virginia (55.7%), Wyoming (58%), and Mississippi (59.8%) have fewer eligible residents vaccinated than any other state, and Idaho has the fourth lowest vaccination percentage for adults (the state) no vaccine data available on residents aged 12 to 17 years).

Key background

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hawaii imposed one of the strictest travel policies in the country. The state immediately ordered anyone who entered the chain of islands Self-quarantine for two weeks in March 2020, although officials allowed travelers with negative coronavirus tests skip the quarantine beginning last fall, and you Excluding vaccinated domestic travelers in July. As a result, visits to the tourism-dependent state crashed in 2020, creating thousands of recreational and hospitality workers lose their job, but the state’s coronavirus infection rate has remained tied under the National average last year.

Big number

114.5 per 100,000 population. This is how many new coronavirus cases Hawaii reported in the past week, the third lowest infection rate in the country, according to the CDC.

Cons

Despite Hawaii’s high vaccination rate, Covid-19 infections started spitting again in July and hit an all-time high in early September before falling rapidly last month. The surge resulted in some hospitals facing out capacity crunches and forced Governor David Ige (D) to urge tourists and other non-essential visitors to avoid Hawaii in August: “It’s not a good time to travel to the islands,” Ige told reporters. Hawaii officials accused This trend on the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus, which saw cases rise in all 50 states over the summer, and said the vast majority of Hospital stays and Deaths were among unvaccinated people. Visits to the islands elevated before the Covid-19 surge, but two months ago, Ige called only 10% and 12% of new infections were from travel, and most were returning Hawaiian residents rather than visitors.