At least 33 states have announced dates when all adults will be eligible for vaccines – here's the list

texas vaccine covid

A medical staffer after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Houston on December 21. Go Nakamura/Getty Images

  • At least 33 states will meet Biden’s target of rolling out vaccines to all adults by May 1.

  • Six states are already vaccinating all people over 16, and five more will do so before April 1.

  • The interactive map below shows when each state plans to open vaccine eligibility to all adults.

  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

President Joe Biden has directed states to make coronavirus vaccines available to all adults by May 1.

Six states – Alaska, Arizona, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah – have met that goal early and are vaccinating people 16 and older.

Five more – Georgia, Indiana, North Dakota, Ohio, and Texas – are poised to roll out vaccines to the general public before the end of March. And 15 states have pledged to reach that milestone in April.

The map below shows when each state plans to open vaccine eligibility to all adult residents. You can hover over your state to find the specific date. But some states have not yet announced dates for that final phase.

Most states hope to start vaccinating all adults in May

In total, at least 33 states will either meet Biden’s May 1 deadline or start vaccinating the general public even earlier. South Carolina will be just two days behind: The state plans to open vaccines to all adults ages 16 and up on May 3.

But 17 states haven’t offered a definitive timeline for when they plan to start vaccinating the general public.

Officials in Florida and New Mexico have said it’s possible their states will start vaccinating all adults in April if supply continues to ramp up steadily. Arkansas and Pennsylvania officials have also said their timelines depend on the number of available doses.

“What we want to have is the scheduling system and the infrastructure so that folks can be in line, know that they can actually have that appointment scheduled, and then have the peace of mind that they know their appointment is coming,” Alison Beam, the acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, told ABC27 News.

Two more states, Louisiana and Minnesota, have promised to roll out vaccines to all adults by the summer but haven’t given a more specific timeline.

Where the general public can already get vaccinated

On March 9, Alaska became the first state to start vaccinating the general adult public. Mississippi and Oklahoma opened vaccines to all adults on March 16, followed by Arizona and Utah on Thursday.

In Wyoming, at least 14 counties are already vaccinating all adults, but the remaining nine still have age restrictions in place.

K-12 teachers are now eligible to receive vaccines in all 50 states. Meanwhile, 35 states are vaccinating grocery-store workers, and 29 states are vaccinating restaurant workers, according to a New York Times survey. Adults with high-risk medical conditions are eligible to receive vaccines in all but three states: Connecticut, Idaho, and Maine.

In total, more than 85 million Americans – more than a quarter of the population – have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among Americans 65 and over, 70% have gotten at least one dose.

The US is administering about 2.2 million doses a day on average. At that pace, the country is on track give first doses to all of its adult population by early June.

This article was originally published on March 20. It has been updated to reflect states’ latest vaccination schedules.

Read the original article on Business Insider

source: yahoo.com