Most states miss President Biden's July Fourth vaccination goal, but not New York
An employee gets a COVID-19 vaccination at a pop-up stand at the Vermont Creamery in Websterville, Vermont, from a National Guard soldier on June 29. Credit: AFP via Getty Images/Ed Jones
New York is among 21 states and the District of Columbia that have met President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination goal of at least 70% of the adult population having gotten at least one shot by Independence Day, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics.
With 72.6% of the adult population vaccinated, New York ranks 15th nationwide, according to the CDC statistics updated on July 4. Vermont is first, with 85.4%, and Mississippi last, at 46.3%. The nationwide rate is 67.1%.
The Biden administration set the now-missed goal in May, when about 56% of the adult population nationwide had gotten at least one shot.
Speaking on television talk shows on Independence Day, federal health officials expressed concern about the potential spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant — which was first identified in India and is more infectious and less responsive to some treatments, the CDC says — particularly in areas with low vaccination rates.
While 75.95% of Long Islanders ages 18 and older have received at least one dose — 79.7% in Nassau and 72.4% in Suffolk, according to New York’s online tracker — there are municipalities of the country with vaccination rates around 30%, the officials said Sunday on the TV talk shows. Those areas are more vulnerable to the new, highly transmissible variant, and the three vaccines approved in the United States are effective against the new strain, the health officials said.
Variants develop by evolutionary trial and error. The more people infected by a virus, the more it’s likely to mutate to become more contagious, more dangerous, or both.
Jeffrey Zients, White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told CNN's "State of the Union": "We are concerned, because where we're seeing increases in cases is in those areas generally that have lower vaccination rates.
"So, we need to make sure that we're doing all we can to vaccinate all Americans, and particularly focused on areas that have lower vaccination rates."
The White House is intensifying efforts to get people vaccinated, Zients said, including by providing vaccines to local doctors who can be "the most trusted messenger[s]," especially for people with hesitancy.
The disparity in vaccination rates could create "almost two types of America," where some areas have little disease and others have spikes, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, told NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"But when you talk about the avoidability of hospitalization and death," Fauci said, ". . . it's really sad and tragic that most all of these are avoidable and preventable.
About 99% of the people who died of COVID-19 in the last month were not vaccinated, said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Last month, the Nassau and Suffolk county governments said that no fully vaccinated Long Islander had died of COVID-19 since after the vaccinations became available in mid-December.
Fauci encouraged fully vaccinated people to consider wearing a mask in areas with low vaccination rates as a precaution because, though the vaccines are "highly effective, nothing is 100%."
Also Thursday, the office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a news release that on Wednesday four people in New York State had died of COVID-19 — including two who were Suffolk County residents. Another was a Manhattan resident and the other from Queens.
Since the pandemic began around March 2020, 42,984 New Yorkers are known to have died from COVID-19.
The state’s positivity rate is 0.54% averaged over seven days, the release said.
For vaccinations, New York State also is 15th nationwide for percent of the total population — not just adults — with at least one dose: 60.5%, the CDC reports. Vermont is first, with 74.2%; Mississippi is last, with 36.3%. The nationwide average is 54.9%.
In New York City, 67.8% of adults have gotten at least one dose, with 59.7% fully vaccinated, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The death rate over seven days in New York City is 0.4 per 100,000 residents, the same as Mississippi. It's 0.1 across New York State, the CDC reports. (The state and city report statistics separately to the CDC.) The nationwide average is 0.5 per 100,000.
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Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
