Health & Fitness

Vaccination Rates In Alabama Among The Lowest In The Nation

Alabama ranks 49th in the country for the percentage of residents vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Mayo Clinic.

According to the latest vaccine data from the Mayo Clinic​, only 29.4 percent of Alabamians, or about 1.4 million people, are fully vaccinated.
According to the latest vaccine data from the Mayo Clinic​, only 29.4 percent of Alabamians, or about 1.4 million people, are fully vaccinated. (Scott Anderson/Patch)

ACROSS ALABAMA — Alabama ranks nearly dead last when it comes to getting people vaccinated against COVID-19. Only one state's vaccination record is worse. That honor goes to Mississippi.

According to the latest vaccine data from the Mayo Clinic, only 29.4 percent of Alabamians, or about 1.4 million people, are fully vaccinated. About 36 percent of the state's population, or about 1.7 million, has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Numbers directly from the Alabama Department of Public Health report similar findings.

"We should take on the responsibility of protecting ourselves by getting vaccinated and taking advantage of this medical breakthrough," said Dr. Michael Saag with the University of Alabama's Division of Infectious Diseases.

Find out what's happening in Across Alabamawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Dr. Saag, research and statistics show that the vaccines to protect people against COVID-19 are, in fact, working. He encourages Alabamians to get vaccinated to help the state return to normalcy.

"If we didn’t have that vaccine come to us in the way that it did with the efficacy and the safety that it has, we’d still be dealing with a December, January, February epidemic right now," he said.

Find out what's happening in Across Alabamawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Southern states generally have the worst vaccination rates, according to the Mayo Clinic numbers. These are the 10 states with the lowest vaccination rates:

50. Mississippi — 27.5 percent
49. Alabama — 29.4 percent
48. Arkansas — 31.6 percent
47. Louisiana — 31.7 percent
46. Wyoming — 32.1 percent
45. Tennessee — 32.2 percent
44. Utah — 33 percent
43. Georgia — 33.1 percent
42. Idaho — 33.2 percent
41. Oklahoma — 34 percent

Finishing just outside the 10 least vaccinated states are southern states West Virginia and South Carolina.

The states with the highest vaccination rates are all in New England, with Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire all at 50 percent or more vaccinated.

According to an analysis by The Washington Post published Sunday, fewer than 1 million COVID-19 shots are being administered in the United States every day. The peak in April was 3.4 million shots per day — and not everyone was eligible then.

Since the pandemic began, 11,249 Alabamians have died from COVID-19. To date, the state has reported 546,845 cases of the virus. According to state data, there are 1,765 new COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday.

The live tracker below, which is managed by the state, shows COVID-19 data and is updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by 10 a.m.:

Patch editor Jim Massara contributed to this report.


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