West Virginia is leading the pack, while big states like California and George are struggling, according to CDC data.
After months of planning, the U.S. government’s “warp speed” rollout of vaccines has instead, threatening to prolong local lockdowns and increase the virus death toll in America. Yet one month into the effort — the largest inoculation drive in American history — some states are moving quickly to vaccinate their populations, according to government data reviewed by CBS MoneyWatch. Other parts of the country are lagging badly. West Virginia has distributed nearly 90% of its supply of the first vaccine shot and is expected to be done inoculating nursing care residents with two doses by the end of January. Firefighters, police and EMTs in the state — one of the poorest in the country — are also getting close to fully vaccinated. Many other states are struggling to get their vaccination efforts off the ground. In all, less than a third of all doses that have been distributed across the country (and to U.S. territories), or 10.3 million out of nearly 30 million, have been given to people. CBS MoneyWatch talked to health experts, government officials and hospital administrators around the U.S. in order to find out what’s working — and not working — in the rush to vaccinate Americans against the lethal disease. Which states are succeeding in getting doses into their residents’ arms? Which states are still struggling? And why? Here are some of the lessons so far in America’s rollout. Among the nation’s most populous states, Georgia, Virginia and California are the furthest behind in distributing the vaccine to residents. According to the most recent CDC data, Georgia has administered less than 20% of the vaccine doses delivered to the state — the lowest percentage of any state in America. Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp opened up vaccinations to residents age 65 and over, as well as to police and other first responders, to speed the effort beyond the initial pool of health care workers and nursing home residents targeted for shots. For now, however, that’s causing more problems. One website in the state scheduled vaccinations for 4 a.m., or four hours before the Atlanta site offering shots was set to open.
