As the United States gets hit with mutations of COVID-19 that have entered the country from South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom, the race to vaccinate America has become even more essential. Each of these appears to spread more quickly than the strain that has infected Americans for months. And, one of these could be more deadly. The progress of the disease has slowed many places in the U.S. The rise in confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and fatal cases has slowed. However, deaths have reached 463,090 and confirmed cases 27,054,709. The anxiety is that the fatal cases count could still reach 600,000 by the summer.

The rate at which people have been vaccinated state by state varies widely. Across the nation, 58,380,300 doses have been distributed. Of these, 36,819,212 have been given. In total, 8.7% of Americans have been given at least one dose.

Alaska has done the best job based on vaccination rate. In the 49th state, 14% of people have been given at least one shot.

At the other end of the spectrum, only 6.7% of the population has gotten at least one shot in Idaho. A total of 262,275 doses have been distributed. A total of 159,394 have been given, for a rate of 61%. This is also below the national average of 53%.

Idaho has been hit hard recently and was part of the devastating spread which raced through the area and included devastating outbreaks in North Dakota and South Dakota. Confirmed cases reached 165,058 yesterday, up by 362. Fatal cases sat at 1,760, up by 11.

Idaho has been plagued by the slow rollout. The Idaho Statesman recently reported:

Reps. John Gannon, D-Boise, and Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced a bill Thursday that would require vaccine distributors to administer 70% of doses within two weeks of receiving them. Distributors would need to inform the state if they don’t meet that quota, or else face a $5,000 fine for every day they don’t disclose it.

Idaho also expects more doses soon. The state expects 5,000 additional Moderna doses next week

It remains to be seen if these efforts will allow Idaho to “catch up” with other states, or even reach the national average. In the meantime, the people in Idaho have every right to worry that they are worse off as the disease spreads than people in other states.

Click here to read  “This is the most deadliest county in America for COVID-19”

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