By: Katie Francis, Follow South Jersey Public Health Intern
SOUTH JERSEY — At the beginning of last month, President Joe Biden announced his goal of administering at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 70% of the country’s adult population by July 4. He also set a nationwide goal of having 160 million American adults fully vaccinated against the global pandemic by Independence Day.
New Jersey was one of the hardest hit states in the country in the early stages of the pandemic, so how is the Garden State doing compared to the rest of the country in its vaccination efforts?
As of Wednesday morning, 5,167,930 New Jersey residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which is 62% of the state’s total population. Additionally, 4,606,216 residents, or 51% of the total population, are fully inoculated against the virus, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. Seventy-three percent of adults in New Jersey have received at least their first shot, making the state one of few that has reached the 70% adult vaccination milestone.
New York, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington are the 14 states that have put at least one vaccine dose in 70% of its adult population or more. Washington D.C. has also reached this goal, according to the CDC.
New Jersey is only behind three states in the race to immunity. Hawaii leads the country with 81% of adults receiving at least one dose, followed by Vermont at 78% and Massachusetts at 77%. The state is tied with Connecticut at 73%, and it is on track to reach its internally-set goal of fully inoculating 70% of its adult population by the end of June. Fewer than 100,000 New Jerseyans need to receive their second dose of the vaccine in the next two weeks in order for New Jersey to reach the coveted 70% milestone.
More information on vaccination rates in the United States can be found here.
Overall, 64.6% of the United States adult population, or 166,867,018 Americans, has received at least one dose, according to the CDC. With just a few weeks until Independence Day, the country is pushing vaccination efforts in order to reach 70% immunity in those 18 and older.
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This article was produced by a Follow South Jersey news intern thanks to a grant provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the New Jersey Health Initiatives program to create hyper-local news to meet the informational and health needs of the City of Bridgeton, N.J.
