The effort to vaccinate children younger than 5 has crawled since its infancy, with CDC data showing less than 3 percent of the nation's 19 million children in this age group with at least one vaccine jab.
As of July 18, 544,054 infants, toddlers and preschoolers have received at least one dose after the FDA and CDC authorized Pfizer and Moderna's pediatric vaccines for emergency use a month ago.
Thirty states are below the national average, and the five states with the lowest vaccination rates among children younger than 5 are Georgia, South Dakota, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Compared to children between 5 and 11, which had a vaccination rate of 9.3 percent two weeks after authorization, only 1.4 percent of the youngest population had at least one shot by the same measure, Kaiser reported.
Here's the state-by-state inoculation rates, as ranked by Kaiser:
|
Rank |
Jurisdiction |
Number of children younger than 5 with at least one dose |
Percentage of children younger than 5 with at least one dose |
|
1 |
District of Columbia |
6,519 |
14.4 |
|
2 |
Vermont |
2,999 |
10.3 |
|
3 |
Massachusetts |
25,901 |
7.2 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
4 |
Maryland |
22,093 |
6.1 |
|
5 |
Washington |
27,434 |
6 |
|
6 |
Maine |
3,650 |
5.7 |
|
7 |
Colorado |
18,501 |
5.6 |
|
8 |
Minnesota |
17,477 |
5 |
|
9 |
Connecticut |
8,568 |
4.7 |
|
10 |
Virginia |
22,742 |
4.5 |
|
11 |
California |
102,136 |
4.3 |
|
12 |
Pennsylvania |
27,964 |
4 |
|
13 |
Wisconsin |
11,669 |
3.5 |
|
14 |
New Hampshire |
2,217 |
3.5 |
|
15 |
Hawaii |
2,935 |
3.4 |
|
16 |
Kansas |
5,925 |
3.2 |
|
17 |
Rhode Island |
1,742 |
3.2 |
|
18 |
New York |
35,713 |
3.2 |
|
19 |
New Jersey |
15,635 |
3 |
|
20 |
Illinois |
22,117 |
3 |
|
21 |
Alaska |
1,441 |
2.8 |
|
22 |
Ohio |
18,766 |
2.7 |
|
23 |
North Carolina |
16,526 |
2.7 |
|
24 |
Oregon |
5,982 |
2.6 |
|
25 |
Utah |
6,484 |
2.6 |
|
26 |
Iowa |
4,967 |
2.5 |
|
27 |
Delaware |
1,365 |
2.5 |
|
28 |
New Mexico |
2,943 |
2.4 |
|
29 |
Missouri |
8,600 |
2.3 |
|
30 |
Arizona |
8,940 |
2.1 |
|
31 |
Nebraska |
2,379 |
1.8 |
|
32 |
Kentucky |
4,514 |
1.7 |
|
33 |
Indiana |
5,769 |
1.4 |
|
34 |
North Dakota |
697 |
1.3 |
|
35 |
South Carolina |
3,588 |
1.2 |
|
36 |
Michigan |
6,773 |
1.2 |
|
37 |
Nevada |
2,108 |
1.1 |
|
38 |
Texas |
22,442 |
1.1 |
|
39 |
Tennessee |
4,443 |
1.1 |
|
40 |
Montana |
653 |
1.1 |
|
41 |
Idaho |
1,240 |
1.1 |
|
42 |
Wyoming |
371 |
1.1 |
|
43 |
Oklahoma |
2,692 |
1.1 |
|
44 |
Florida |
11,607 |
1 |
|
45 |
West Virginia |
898 |
1 |
|
46 |
Louisiana |
2,220 |
0.7 |
|
47 |
Georgia |
4,671 |
0.7 |
|
48 |
South Dakota |
422 |
0.7 |
|
49 |
Arkansas |
1,180 |
0.6 |
|
50 |
Alabama |
1,645 |
0.6 |
|
51 |
Mississippi |
709 |
0.4 |