12 US States celebrate major win as 70% of adults have received one vaccine dose; other states not far behind, shows CDC data

More than 12 states in the US have surpassed a milestone in their vaccination campaign:  70% of their adult populations have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite the much-touted achievement, the number stands in stark contrast to several states in the South, which have barely made it to the halfway mark.

Most of the states that have crossed the 70% mark are located in the Northeast, including Massachusetts: 78.7%, Connecticut: 75.6%, Maine: 74.3%, and New Jersey: 74.1%. The data has been obtained by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

A number of other states in the US are also on the road to achieve this milestone, such as Virginia: 67.5%, Washington State: 69.5%, Washington DC: 68.4%, and New York: 68.1%, revealed the CDC data. However, other major parts of the country are still facing challenges to reach the 50% mark.

States like Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Wyoming, and West Virginia are yet to have 50% of their adult population administered with at least one shot of the vaccine. From a bigger perspective, almost 62.9% of the whole adult population have received one vaccine dose, according to the data collected by the CDC.

In addition, more than 133 million adults that round up to 52% of the entire population are fully vaccinated, says the CDC. At present, states are putting in efforts to increase the demand for a vaccine dose, which has plunged significantly over the course of the last few weeks. The first dose of the vaccine had been given to several Americans in April, reaching an all-time high of 3.3 million doses on April 11.

However, the number soon fell drastically to a mere 1.1 million in the course of a month. In order to increase the demand for vaccines, many states have started to adopt new methods to appease hesitant American citizens. These methods have come in the form of incentives, including jackpots, beers on the house, and scholarships for teen students.

The increasing number of vaccine doses being administered has been linked to the decline in the number of coronavirus cases. In early April, the seven-day average for new cases was totaled to be around 65,000, but with time, the number dropped significantly and now stands at 15,622, according to the CDC.