Louisiana continues to languish at the bottom of national vaccination rates coming in at second-worst in the country with only 49.5% of adults having received at least one shot.
39% of all Louisianans have received at least one dose of a vaccine, but among those most vulnerable, the 65 and older crowd, that number is 80%.
“I think those number could stand to improve, I think they need to improve and it think that many communities in Louisiana are going to remain vulnerable until those numbers improve,” said State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter.
Mississippi continues to come in last for adult vaccination rate at just over 47%, but our neighbors in Texas and Arkansas sit at 61% and 53% respectively. Nationwide 67.3% of American adults have received at least one shot.
Kanter said despite how effective the vaccines are they have recorded 1,763 cases in Louisiana of individuals who were fully vaccinated but still became infected. Nearly all breakthrough cases were mild to moderate cases, but 103 people were hospitalized due to their breakthrough infections and 27 have died. Kanter said the 27 who have died make up .002% of all vaccinated Louisianans.
Kanter said it is too early to make any conclusive statements but early evidence suggests areas with higher vaccination rates now have noticeably lower levels of community spread.
“For example, New Orleans right now has the highest vaccination rates in the state and the lowest percent positivity amongst large areas, they are at 1.6% positivity this week,” said Kanter.
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