As the United States passes the milestone of 60% of American people having at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, states with low vaccination rates report a stark difference in new cases, CNN reports on a study by the CDC and The Johns Hopkins University.
Seven states have already reached the goal of 70% of adults with at least one vaccination, and they’re seeing new coronavirus infections 10% lower than the national average. Those states are Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont. Those states are reporting 66 new cases per 100,000 people, lower than the national average of 73 new cases per 100,000 people.
In the ten states with less than 50% of adults with at least one vaccination–Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming–report 78 new cases per 100,000 people.
“Clearly if you have geographic areas that are under-immunized, the virus is going to find them. It will continue to smolder, will continue to make people sick, will continue to send people to the hospital, and will continue to cause deaths,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.