Every adult in US is now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine
The United States has reached a key milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, as every adult is now eligible to receive a vaccine. The final states to open up eligibility to their entire adult population on Monday were Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.
According to a New York Times report, all adults in each U.S. state, as well as Washington D.C, and Puerto Rico, were eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. As per the news agency Axios, on Monday, the final states to open up eligibility to their entire adult population were Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.
President Joe Biden had announced in March that he was directing states to make all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccination by May 1. But as states quickly reacted to open up vaccines for all adults, Biden later moved the deadline up to April 19. Thus, the goal of meeting this earlier date was successfully met on Monday.
According to data from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, half of the Americans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot, and about 32.5% of all adults are fully vaccinated. At this rate, the United States will vaccinate 70 per cent of its population by the middle of June.
Although the landmark indicates a speedy nationwide vaccination, it will surely increase the pressure on the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and states to supply adequate vaccines and logistics.
The New York Times reported that the U.S. is now administering some 3.2 million doses daily, up from 2.5 million a month earlier. “Herd Immunity” is a concept that states when most of the population is immune to an infectious disease, this provides “indirect protection” or population immunity to even those who are not immune to the disease.
As the U.S. moves closer to vaccinating 70 per cent of its population by mid-June, the vaccine hesitancy and the lack of FDA-approved vaccines for children could prove to be major impediments in the country’s way to herd immunity.
