‘A sign we’re doing it right’: Race to vaccinate older Americans is advancing in many states
Two months after the first COVID-19 shots were administered, the race to vaccinate older Americans is gaining traction, with more than a third of people 65 and up having received their first dose in states that have provided data.
The finding comes from an Associated Press analysis of information from 27 states where data are available. Those states account for just over half of all first doses administered nationwide.
“This is very good news. This is a sign we’re doing it right,” said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Vaccine hesitancy is dropping quickly as older Americans talk to their friends who have been vaccinated, he said. “They’re watching people they know get the vaccine and seeing it’s safe.”
The proportion of vaccines given to those 65 years and older varies. It’s about three-quarters of all first-dose shots in Florida and more than two-thirds in North Carolina.
In Indiana, Alaska and West Virginia, almost half of the population 65 years and older has received the first dose. In North Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Florida and Utah, about a third of that population has received the first dose.
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Nebraska and Maryland are on the lower end, with 20 percent or less of the 65-and-older population. The administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers said Wednesday that they would create a vaccine task force that will brainstorm ways to administer COVID-19 shots more rapidly.
As of Wednesday, the federal government had distributed 46.4 million vaccine doses to states and other jurisdictions, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, almost 34 million people, or 10 percent of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Nearly 10.5 million people, or 3 percent of the population, have received both doses.
Older Americans have borne the brunt of the deaths and hospitalizations from the virus, which has claimed more than 475,000 lives in the United States. About 80 percent of the people who have died from COVID have been adults 65 and older.
Experts recommend that people continue wearing masks and practicing social distancing even after receiving COVID-19 shots. Although recipients are expected to get some level of protection within a couple of weeks of the first shot, full protection may not happen until a couple weeks after the second shot. It’s unclear whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus.
Still, the vaccines have already had a real impact on the lives of older Americans.
Stephanie LaBumbard, 80, spent most of last year alone and separated from family at home in Cadillac, Mich.. Now she’s feeling a surge in positivity after getting her second vaccine dose.
“I’m not home free yet, but I feel in a lot better shape,” LaBumbard said. She has yet to change her cautious behavior but is making plans to do so and couldn’t be happier about it. Being able to go out with friends again seems “just an absolute miracle.”
“It’s so wonderful to realize that we can be back to normal or something like it.”
It’s a different story in North Carolina’s rural Warren County, where Leticia Bonilla has been frustrated by an inability to make a vaccine appointment locally and would prefer not to wait in line at a mass vaccine clinic in another county.
The 66-year-old retired teacher said the nurse at her doctor’s office offered to help her get on a waiting list, but she declined because it felt too uncertain.
“I said, ‘Well, how long is the list?’ She said, ‘I don’t know. We don’t have any vaccines yet.’ And I said, ‘Well, why would I put my name there?’ … And I just hung up,” Bonilla said.