The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
States speed up push to get more adults vaccinated
Officials in at least 18 states have committed in recent days to opening coronavirus vaccine appointments to all adults in March or April, part of a fast- moving expansion as states race to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of universal eligibility by May 1.
In Ohio, all adults will be allowed to seek shots starting March 29. In Alaska and Mississippi, all adults are already able to book appointments. And Thursday, officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Maryland and Missouri said that all adults would be allowed in April to sign up for a shot.
Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah said universal eligibility would begin there next week.
But even as the pace of vaccinations has accelerated to about 2.5 million shots each day nationwide, the country finds itself at a precarious point in the pandemic. Cases, deaths and hospitalizations have all fallen sharply from January peaks, yet infection levels have plateaued this month, at about 55,000 new cases a day.
Public health researchers said they viewed the current moment in the pandemic as a sprint between vaccinations and newly confirmed cases of the virus, particularly infections that are spreading because of variants that can be more contagious.
No state is reporting case numbers anywhere near record levels, and the sort of explosive case growth seen in hard- hit areas through 2020 has almost completely abated. Kansas is averaging about 215 new coronavirus cases a day, down from more than 2,000 in early January. In California, around 2,900 cases are reported most days, down from about 40,000 in mid- January. And North Dakota, which has the country’s most known cases per capita, is now regularly adding fewer than 100 cases a day, in a state with a population of 762,000.
Since vaccinations began in December, the federal government has delivered more than 151 million vaccine doses, and about 77% have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Thursday, 66% of the country’s older population had received at least one vaccine dose, according to CDC data, with 39% fully vaccinated.
At least 23 states have said they will expand vaccine eligibility to their general population on or before May 1, the deadline that Biden set last week.