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According to an update Thursday night from Bloomberg’s COVID-19 vaccine tracking, there is only one state in the country that is doing a worse job than California in administering its available doses of COVID-19.
California currently sits 49th out of 50 states with a usage rate of 27.5%, beating only Alabama, which is stuck in last place with a paltry 21.2% usage rate. For reference, the national utilization rate is 38.8%, which means California is in double digits compared to the rest of the country.
The Golden State is in the same stadium as Georgia (48th place with a utilization rate of 28.0%) and Virginia (47th with a rate of 28.4%), and significantly lags the other major states. Of the six largest states in the country, California is the only one with a utilization rate of less than 40.0%:
-California 27.5% (49th)
-Texas 49.6% (eighth)
-Florida 43.0% (23rd)
-New York 41.0% (26th)
-Pennsylvania 40.0% (27th)
-Illinois 43.2% (22nd)
The five states with the highest utilization rates are West Virginia (78.6%), North Dakota (71.3%), South Dakota (61.4%), Rhode Island ( 57.2%) and Louisiana (54.4%).
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that his state now allows people aged 65 and over to be vaccinated, but the rollout has been far from smooth.
Counties and health care providers are making the final call on who gets vaccinated, and some, including Los Angeles County – the largest county in the state – have ignored the governor’s announcement and said that only healthcare workers could receive the vaccine at the moment, citing a supply shortage.
“We’re not done with our healthcare workers,” LA County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said. “We have not received a response from the state regarding the availability of vaccines and how they would be distributed.”
Meanwhile, Orange County decided to allow residents aged 65 and over to book appointments at its new super Disneyland site, but its registration website collapsed due to ‘high demand.
Many counties are asking the state for more doses before moving on to the elderly. For example, Santa Clara County wants to start vaccinating those aged 75 and over, but after requesting 100,000 more doses, it was told this week that it would only receive 6,000.
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