Almost a sixth of Americans have now received their COVID booster: Maine and Vermont see the biggest uptake with 28% jabbed, while Alabama has the lowest uptake - just 9%
Nearly one in every six Americans has now received a COVID-19 vaccine booster, though there is a massive disparity in vaccine uptake across different states, a DailyMail.com analysis has discovered.
Maine and Vermont are the nation's leaders, each having booster 28 percent of the population - well above the nationwide booster average of 16 percent.
The states are also among the leaders in amount of the population fully vaccinated, with 75 percent of Vermonters and 74 percent of Mainers having completed the original vaccine series.
Massachusetts is also among the nationwide leaders in rate of the population being fully vaccinated, with 73 percent of Bay Staters getting the initial vaccine doses.
According to official data, 22 percent of the state's residents have already gotten boosters as well.
Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are also among the nation's leader in vaccination rate, though they were not included in the analysis.
California, America's most populous state, is among the states where more than one-in-five residents have received booster doses, with 20.6 percent being inoculated with the additional shot.
Colorado (21 percent of residents have received booster doses), Delaware (20 percent), Iowa (20 percent), Maryland (21 percent), Minnesota (24 percent), New Mexico (22 percent), Wisconsin (22 percent) have also boosted more than a fifth of their population.
Vermont and Maine lead the way in America's booster rollout, with over 28% of residents in each state having received the additional shot. Alabama is falling well behind the pace, with only 9% of residents having been boosted.
Alabama has the third lowest percentage of fully-vaccinated residents in America, and finds itself dead last is booster uptake so far, with just nine per cent of its residents receiving the additional jab.
The state has only fully-vaccinated 47 percent of its residents, meaning they've received two doses of Moderna or Pfizer's shot, or one dose of the J&J vaccine.
Alabama is the only state with fewer than 10 per cent of its residents boosted.
Wyoming is among the nine states not included in the data, while Idaho has boosted nearly 15 percent of its population.
Alabama joins many other states in the U.S. who have fallen behind their peers in their campaign to rollout boosters - just like many did with the initial vaccine doses.
Georgia (12 percent of the population boosted), Texas (13 percent), Tennessee (14 percent), Missouri (14 percent), South Carolina (12 percent), Louisiana (12 percent), Arkansas (12 percent), Mississippi (11 percent), West Virginia (15 percent) all have booster rates of under 15 percent.
Arizona (11 percent), Oklahoma (11 percent) and Kansas (15 percent) are also among the states with the lowest booster rates.
Health officials fear that Americans that have not yet received their booster shots are putting themselves at risk from the new Omicron variant.
Covid booster shots became widely available to all American adults in mid-November, a recently an additional dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was even authorized for minors aged 16 and 17.
The recent discovery of the Omicron variant has pushed many to get the additional shots as well, as preliminary data shows the variant has the ability to evade protection provided by the initial vaccine regimen - but boosters can prevent infection.
In response, demand for the Covid booster has increased in recent weeks, though some areas are seeing more residents get their shots than others.
Health officials are urging Americans to get their COVID-19 booster shots after initial data on the Omicron variant finds that just being 'fully vaccinated' can still leave a person vulnerable to infection and severe symptoms from Covid. Pictured: A man in Benton Harbor, Michigan, receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on December 12
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 53.8 million Americans have received their booster shots.
Those who are 16 or older and received the second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine six months ago, or the single Johnson & Johnson shot two months ago, are eligible for booster shots.
Nine U.S. states were not included in the analysis as updated data showing how many residents had received booster shots was not readily available, and representatives from the states' health departments did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com inquiry.
More than 285 million Americans live in the 41 included states, according to official data - out of the 332 million total U.S. population.
Of the included population, 47.14 million have received a booster shot, or 16.5 percent of the population, almost matching the 16.2 percent figure reported by the CDC.
Eleven of the 40 states have distributed booster doses to more than 20 percent of their population, with two eclipsing the 25 percent mark.
The virus strain was first detected by South African officials late last month, and has more than 50 mutations - leading to many immediately fearing it could evade protection provided by the Covid vaccines.
An African research team found last week that people who had received the two-shot Pfizer Covid vaccine were at risk of infection or even severe complications from the virus.
A day later, Pfizer officials confirmed the findings, while also saying they had data showing the booster shot would re-establish protection.
Research from Israel, published Monday, confirms these findings, showing that the Pfizer booster provided adequate protection against Omicron, though still not as much protection as it does against other strains.
In response, health officials in the U.S., and around the world, have upped campaigns to expand usage of the additional shots.
Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, said that the definition of 'fully vaccinated' would eventually be changed to only included people who have received the additional shot.
He, joined by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, also said last week that a fourth Covid vaccine dose could be on the cards.
Over the weekend, he added that Americans would 'just have to deal with' the prospect of receiving more doses of the vaccine, and that continued booster shots will be necessary for the remainder of the pandemic.
As of Monday morning, the Omicron variant has been sequenced 159 times in the U.S., across 30 states and the District of Columbia.
The Delta variant is still by far the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for around 99 percent of sequenced cases, according to the CDC.
No comments