President Joe Biden announced that within his first 100 days in office, all Americans ages 16 and older who want a vaccine would be eligible to receive one by April 19. The goal to administer 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses would be a major milestone for the administration.

The U.S. is leading the charge worldwide in getting its population vaccinated, with 72,795,342 Americans — or 22.2% of the country — who have received both vaccine doses. But, which states are doing a better job administering and fully vaccinating their populations, and which are falling behind?

Key findings:
  • New Mexico, Rhode Island and South Dakota have the highest numbers out of their total residents who are fully vaccinated.
  • Georgia, Utah and Alabama have the lowest rates of vaccinated residents.
  • Nationwide, close to 1 out of every 5 people in the country (22.2%) are fully vaccinated.
  • In the U.S., 124,709,640 individuals have received their first vaccine and 72,795,342 are fully vaccinated as of April 13, 2021.
  • Out of all distributed vaccines, 79.7% have been administered.
  • New Mexico administered the highest rate of vaccines of its distribution at 88.5%.

Which states are more successful at vaccinating than others?

During the first phase of the initial rollout, governors and state jurisdictions ultimately decided who received vaccines and when. Now that governors are opening up vaccination sites to the general population above 16 and 18 years of age, New Mexico has become the number one most vaccinated state in the country with 29.6% of its residents fully inoculated.

The increased and stabilized supply of vaccines has delivered more doses ahead of schedule. The new timeline eligibility led to a record number of vaccinations last Saturday with four million doses administered.

On the other hand, states like Georgia, Utah and Alabama have very low vaccination rates — each with less than 17% of their respective total populations vaccinated. New York, one of the states hit hardest in 2020, has since distributed 14,459,595 vaccines. Of those vaccines, the state has administered 12,242,726 so far. As of early April, New York has vaccinated 25.3% of its total population, ranking it 14th for overall vaccination rates for its state residents.

Some of these early distribution flaws are thought to be due to misinformation, crashing of websites and poor time windows. Many states' health care systems were overwhelmed, causing more difficulties in the administration of the vaccines. States are having to get creative in establishing large enough areas where many people can receive the vaccine safely at the same time.

Here is the ranking of states based on the percentage of each one’s residents that are fully vaccinated.

Best and worst states at vaccinating their residents against COVID-19
Rank State Total doses delivered Total doses administered Administration rate Number of people fully vaccinated Percentage of state fully vaccinated
1 New Mexico 1,710,565 1,514,221 88.50% 621,671 29.60%
2 Rhode Island 803,105 709,383 88.30% 304,112 28.70%
3 South Dakota 740,285 597,911 80.80% 252,006 28.50%
4 Connecticut 2,991,235 2,498,626 83.50% 1,001,744 28.10%
5 Maine 1,037,000 886,525 85.50% 371,821 27.70%
6 Alaska 706,185 465,250 65.90% 201,795 27.60%
7 Vermont 515,960 427,958 82.90% 169,769 27.20%
8 North Dakota 547,170 496,230 90.70% 206,710 27.10%
9 New Jersey 6,362,455 5,673,369 89.20% 2,335,482 26.30%
10 Minnesota 3,777,940 3,496,194 92.50% 1,468,594 26.00%
11 Massachusetts 5,331,330 4,651,716 87.30% 1,779,448 25.80%
12 Wisconsin 3,999,985 3,710,175 92.80% 1,499,965 25.80%
13 Iowa 2,240,975 1,927,000 86.00% 796,722 25.30%
14 New York 14,459,595 12,242,726 84.70% 4,931,444 25.30%
15 Hawaii 1,140,130 853,628 74.90% 356,879 25.20%
16 New Hampshire 1,003,555 978,713 97.50% 339,822 25.00%
17 Montana 826,055 639,104 77.40% 266,185 24.90%
18 West Virginia 1,386,215 1,025,629 74.00% 433,539 24.20%
19 Kentucky 3,130,125 2,587,355 82.70% 1,072,660 24.00%
20 Washington 5,514,040 4,526,964 82.10% 1,831,031 24.00%
21 Nebraska 1,397,550 1,145,421 82.00% 461,917 23.90%
22 Maryland 4,475,360 3,582,804 80.10% 1,436,711 23.80%
23 Oklahoma 3,123,625 2,330,078 74.60% 937,722 23.70%
24 Michigan 7,025,100 5,585,259 79.50% 2,305,267 23.10%
25 Virginia 5,965,125 5,124,981 85.90% 1,960,371 23.00%
26 Kansas 2,141,475 1,652,045 77.10% 666,644 22.90%
27 Ohio 8,322,065 6,713,753 80.70% 2,679,834 22.90%
28 Colorado 4,090,550 3,407,618 83.30% 1,311,847 22.80%
29 Wyoming 450,525 310,765 69.00% 131,994 22.80%
30 Pennsylvania 9,542,955 7,687,290 80.60% 2,911,810 22.70%
31 Illinois 9,270,385 7,495,849 80.90% 2,821,990 22.30%
32 Oregon 2,927,765 2,356,196 80.50% 942,416 22.30%
33 Arizona 5,161,045 4,168,939 80.80% 1,602,317 22.00%
34 Delaware 729,185 582,422 79.90% 212,392 21.80%
35 North Carolina 7,482,530 5,714,763 76.40% 2,273,894 21.70%
36 Nevada 2,014,340 1,684,035 83.60% 662,481 21.50%
37 California 29,034,050 23,031,055 79.30% 8,459,357 21.40%
38 Florida 15,878,475 12,083,514 76.10% 4,605,451 21.40%
39 Idaho 1,165,795 920,374 78.90% 379,753 21.30%
40 Louisiana 3,279,090 2,334,618 71.20% 978,932 21.10%
41 Indiana 4,286,610 3,412,179 79.60% 1,404,887 20.90%
42 Missouri 4,246,425 3,196,092 75.30% 1,263,413 20.60%
43 South Carolina 3,494,775 2,694,436 77.10% 1,059,793 20.60%
44 Texas 19,312,495 15,151,731 78.50% 5,758,786 19.90%
45 Mississippi 2,074,625 1,363,558 65.70% 571,808 19.20%
46 Arkansas 2,138,430 1,478,774 69.20% 572,844 19.00%
47 Tennessee 4,635,700 3,286,379 70.90% 1,243,190 18.20%
48 Alabama 3,278,980 2,092,489 63.80% 824,052 16.80%
49 Utah 1,954,460 1,663,511 85.10% 516,667 16.10%
50 Georgia 7,197,445 4,668,187 64.90% 1,595,403 15.00%
-- United States 234,320,840 186,827,792 79.70% 72,795,342 22.20%

Establishing priority groups

In a previous analysis, QuoteWizard looked at Ariadne Labs and Surgo Foundation vaccine allocation data to see which states had the highest rates of high-priority groups among the population. We found that New York, Massachusetts and South Dakota had the largest groups of Phase 1 “high-priority” individuals — over 8% of their respective populations.

After evaluating national vaccination figures, we found that 19.6% of the senior population age group above 75 years old and 26.2% of people aged 65-75 are fully vaccinated compared to 8.1% of the 18-29 age group and 10.4% of those 30-39. Overall for all age groups, 22.2% of Americans are fully vaccinated. Here’s a further breakdown of vaccination rates among all age groups.

National vaccination figures by age
Age group People fully vaccinated (%) People fully vaccinated (#) Percentage of U.S. population
<18 0.20% 142,994 22%
18-29 8.10% 5,543,126 16%
30-39 10.40% 7,088,275 13%
40-49 11.30% 7,710,026 12%
50-64 24.20% 16,508,286 19%
65-74 26.20% 17,922,546 10%
75+ 19.60% 13,389,710 7%

Methodology:

To determine the states that have the highest rates of vaccine administration, QuoteWizard analyzed the CDC COVID Data Tracker. The rank is based on states that have the highest rates of vaccine inoculation relative to their populations as of April 13, 2020. States that have administered the highest rates of vaccines compared to their total populations are ranked closer to 1, and states with lower coronavirus vaccination rates are ranked closer to 50. Associated with the table but not used in the ranking are the numbers of distributed and administered vaccines in each state, as well as their administration rates relative to the total number of distributed vaccines.