More older Americans are getting covid vaccine shots but progress uneven

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 is 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 effort is uneven, with many other states still lagging behind on vaccinations of the higher-risk population. ...

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% 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% of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Nearly 10.5 million people, or 3% of the population, have received both doses. ...