Currently, three in five Californians are vaccinated with COVID-19, at least partially.National

Federal statistics show that three in five Californians have been vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 vaccine. This is the latest milestone in state development.

If you look only at those who are currently qualified to roll up their sleeves, the picture will be even more rosy. At this point, more than 70% of residents over the age of 12 are partially vaccinated, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest figures show that, despite improvements, there are still ways to tackle vaccination efforts in the Golden State.

Less than half of all Californians, and about 57% of those eligible for shots, are fully vaccinated. This means that millions more doses will be required for the state to reach the level of vaccine coverage that is often needed to achieve long-term sustainability. Herd immunity against coronavirus.

And while many of the states enjoy some protection, authorities are concerned about potential relapses among unvaccinated people.

Given the prevalence of deltacoronavirus variants, these concerns are imminent. This can be twice as contagious as traditional strains.

“As I often say, this virus is opportunistic. As long as some people are not vaccinated, COVID-19 will continue to be a threat,” said CDC director Rochelle Walensky. The doctor said this week.

Of all the states, California ranks 11th in the partial immunization rate among the population aged 12 and over, according to CDC data.

On its leaderboard is Vermont, 83%. Hawaii, 80.7%; Massachusetts, 79.7%.

California is often compared to quite a few other states. It is 71.9% in Pennsylvania, 68.8% in New York, 60.7% in Florida, and 57.2% in Texas.

However, since peaking in mid-April, the pace of new immunization has slowed, both in California and across the country.

As expected, the pool of unvaccinated Americans has shrunk, and hesitation continues to take shots.

It is important for authorities to understand that unvaccinated people are not in a homogeneous group and that there are many practical and philosophical issues that explain why they have not yet changed their order. Is called.

“This does not represent many’anti-vaccinated people’who did not come to the vaccination because they fought vaccination for the rest of their lives,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health at Los Angeles County. .. “This has to do with issues related to access and trust in these particular vaccines.”

In a panel discussion hosted Wednesday by the University of Southern California’s COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center, Feller could confirm that there are real hurdles to prevent Angelenos from being vaccinated and that there are many useful options. He said it was still important.

“We are attending a community event. We are in the place of worship. We are in the train station. We are in the park. We are in the shopping center,” she says. I did. “We go where people ask us to go. We go to work. We set up pop-ups to vaccinate 10 people, but that’s okay.”

But she continues, health officials are trying to reach holdouts over time to address their concerns and build confidence in the vaccine.

“I think there’s a lot of evidence about their safety, especially now that hundreds of millions of people are vaccinated, but they need to answer their questions,” she said.

One of the specific cohorts with delayed immunization rates is young adults.

According to data compiled by the Los Angeles Times, about 62% of Californians aged 18-49 are at least partially vaccinated, while 78% of people aged 50-64 are 65 or older. The number of people is about 89%.

Only about 41% of 12-17 year olds receive at least one dose.

Jeff Seiens, coordinator of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Task Force, emphasized this week that it is imperative to vaccinate people between the ages of 18 and 26.

“In reality, many young Americans feel that COVID-19 does not affect them, and they were not so keen on being shot,” he said in a briefing on Tuesday. I did. “But now that Delta variants are spreading across the country and infecting young people around the world, it’s more important than ever for them to be vaccinated.”

Even if the infected person suffers from mild symptoms or not at all, authorities may give additional opportunities for all new cases to mutate to the coronavirus, producing more dangerous variants. It states.

“We won’t end until we’ve completely crushed this outbreak,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US government infectious disease expert.

———

© 2021 Los Angeles Times.Please visit latimes.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.