States With the Best (and Worst) Vaccination Rates in the U.S.

States With the Best (and Worst) Vaccination Rates in the U.S.

The U.S. covid-19 vaccination rate is currently 49.71%, ranked 22nd in the world, down from 18th place just last week. But which individual states are doing the best?

We’ve compiled a list of vaccination rates for every U.S. state and Washington D.C. using data from Johns Hopkins University, comparing each state to the vaccination efforts of other countries.

The top state isn’t even a state, with Washington, D.C. taking the top spot. Over 69% of residents in the District of Columbia have been fully vaccinated. Vermont (68%), Rhode Island (67%), Massachusetts (63%), and Maine (63%) round out the top five.

But some states are really struggling to get people vaccinated. Alabama is the worst, with only 34.27% of its population fully vaccinated, with Mississippi (34.34%) and Wyoming (36%) rounding out the worst three states for covid-19 vaccinations.

Below we have all 50 states (plus D.C.) and how they’re doing compared to countries around the world.

  1. District of Columbia – 69.37%, similar percentage to the United Arab Emirates
  2. Vermont – 68.11%, similar to San Marino
  3. Rhode Island – 67.26%, similar to San Marino
  4. Massachusetts – 63.99%, similar to Chile
  5. Maine – 63.58%, similar to Bahrain
  6. Connecticut – 62.75%, similar to Uruguay
  7. Hawaii – 59.78%, similar to Mongolia
  8. New Jersey – 59.02%, similar to Qatar
  9. Washington – 58.88%, similar to Israel
  10. Maryland – 58.76%, similar to Israel
  11. New Hampshire – 58.51%, similar to Israel
  12. Oregon – 56.89%, similar to Bhutan
  13. New Mexico – 56.83%, similar to Bhutan
  14. New York – 56.27%, similar to Canada
  15. Colorado – 55.47%, similar to United Kingdom
  16. Virginia – 54.68%, similar to Spain
  17. Minnesota – 54.24%, similar to Hungary
  18. California – 53.27%, similar to Singapore
  19. Delaware – 53.21%, similar to Singapore
  20. Pennsylvania – 51.92%, similar to Ireland
  21. Wisconsin – 51.81%, similar to Ireland
  22. Illinois – 50.30%, similar to Portugal
  23. Florida – 49.79%, similar to Germany
  24. Nebraska – 49.70%, similar to Germany
  25. Iowa – 49.56%, similar to Liechtenstein
  26. Michigan – 48.73%, similar to Maldives
  27. North Carolina – 47.47%, similar to Netherlands
  28. Utah – 47.39%, similar to Luxembourg
  29. South Dakota – 47.39%, similar to Luxembourg
  30. Arizona – 47.15%, similar to Switzerland
  31. Ohio – 46.35%, similar to Greece
  32. Nevada – 45.58%, similar to France
  33. Kentucky – 45.43%, similar to France
  34. Alaska – 45.14%, similar to Poland
  35. Kansas – 44.96%, similar to Poland
  36. Montana – 44.89%, similar to Poland
  37. Texas – 44.56%, similar to Poland
  38. Indiana – 44.41%, similar to Andorra
  39. West Virginia – 42.25%, similar to Czechia
  40. South Carolina – 41.36%, similar to Mauritius
  41. Missouri – 41.11%, similar to Mauritius
  42. North Dakota – 40.19%, similar to Mauritius
  43. Oklahoma – 40.11%, similar to Mauritius
  44. Georgia – 39.92%, similar to Serbia
  45. Idaho – 39.86%, similar to Serbia
  46. Tennessee – 39.59%, similar to Serbia
  47. Louisiana – 36.48%, similar to Estonia
  48. Arkansas – 36.22%, similar to Estonia
  49. Wyoming – 36.21%, similar to Estonia
  50. Mississippi – 34.34%, similar to Latvia
  51. Alabama – 34.27%, similar to Croatia

Keep in mind, this list only counts the percentage of the eligible population that’s been fully vaccinated. California, for instance has immunized the most people in the country by far, with over 20.9 million residents fully vaccinated. But the state ranks 18th in our list because only 53.27% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated.

Why are some states doing better than others? Sadly, a lot of it has to do with politics. Americans who support former president Donald Trump are much less likely to support the covid-19 vaccination, and you’re seeing that play out in states like Arkansas, where the Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, was booed yesterday for debunking conspiracy theories about the coronavirus vaccines, such as the false idea that they cause infertility in women.

This is what not just the U.S. but the world is up against as far-right politicians around the world stoke fears about vaccines and tell people that covid-19 really isn’t a big deal.

The global death toll currently stands at more than 4.16 million people, according to Johns Hopkins University. But death isn’t the only consequence of this vile disease. Over 194 million people have contracted covid-19, with many suffering severe health effects for months after supposedly recovering from the illness.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.