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Topline
Pennsylvania announced Monday it will open up Covid-19 vaccine eligibility to all adults on April 13—six days earlier than planned—as President Joe Biden is moving up his timeline for vaccine eligibility from May 1 and asking states to open up vaccinations to everyone by April 19.
People stand in line to receive a Covid-19 vaccine on March 10, 2021 in North Miami, Florida. (Photo … [+]
Key Facts
All residents age 16 and up in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin are now eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
April 18: Virginia will open eligibility to everyone ages 16 and up.
Big Number
187 million. That’s how many vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S. as of Monday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Contra
An Associated Press analysis found states that had quickly widened which populations could get the vaccine—like South Carolina and Florida—actually had lower vaccination rates over those moving more “slowly and methodically,” as the rapidly expanding states may not have the infrastructure to cover the increased demand. “If you’re more targeted and more focused, you can do a better job,” Surgo Ventures executive director Sema Sgaier, whose health-data organization conducted the analysis with the AP, told the outlet. “You can open it up — if you have set up the infrastructure to vaccinate all those people fast.”
Key Background
Covid-19 vaccinations have been quickly increasing over the past few weeks as supply has shot up, with Bloomberg reporting the U.S. administered an average of 3.14 million doses per day in the last week. Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna have said they will deliver 300 million vaccine doses to the U.S. government by the end of July, while Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine was only recently approved for U.S. use, will deliver 100 million in the first half of 2021. The U.S.’s infrastructure for administering the vaccine has also expanded as supply has increased: CVS recently expanded its Covid-19 vaccination program to 12 additional states, for instance, and the Biden administration has set up a number of federally-run vaccine sites across the country.
Further Reading
Biden To Move Up Deadline For States To Drop Vaccine Eligibility Requirements (Forbes)
Biden Will Direct States To Make Vaccines Open To Everybody By May (Forbes)
Biden Now Promises Vaccines For Every Adult By Mid-May — Weeks Earlier Than Expected (Forbes)
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