Six charts about COVID-19 vaccines: 24% of Americans 12 to 17 have started their vaccinations

As of June 1, 168.5 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, representing 51% of the population. Forty-one percent of the population, or 135.9 million people, is fully vaccinated.

The vaccination rate has slowed since peaking in April. In the week ending on June 1, there were an average of 587,000 new vaccine recipients every day, down 71% from the 2 million a day mid-April. At the current vaccination rate, 70% of the population will have at least one dose by mid-September.

Vermont (71% starting vaccination as of June 1), Hawaii (67%), and Massachusetts (67%) are the three most vaccinated states. Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New Hampshire also have vaccination rates exceeding 60%.

States with the lowest vaccination rates this year continued to have low rates in May. In six states — North Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Alabama, 3% of the population started vaccination in May. Each of these states have lower vaccination rates than the national average. As of June 1, Mississippi was the least vaccinated state with 34% beginning vaccinations, and Alabama was the third least vaccinated with 36% of people taking at least one shot.

Five states had more than 10% of their populations start vaccinations in May: Vermont, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts. All five states have a higher vaccination rate than the US.

In May, 53.8 million vaccine doses were distributed, down 52% from 112 million in April. As of June 1, 366.3 million doses have been delivered. Distribution fell for all three available vaccines in May.

There were 52.9 million doses administered in May, down 38% from 85.9 million in April. Overall, 296.4 million shots have been given since vaccines were made available.

About 2.7 million doses of the single-shot vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson were distributed in May, down 75% from 10.6 million in April. Federal health agencies lifted a 10-day pause on the vaccine’s use on April 23, saying that blood clots that may occur after receiving a dose “are very rare events.”

US vaccine hesitancy dropped according to data from latest Census Household Pulse Survey. For the May 12 to May 24 survey, about 21% of adults said they were either less than absolute that they would get vaccinated (responding “probably,” “probably not,” or definitely will not”) or reported that they’d had their first shot and don’t plan to receive a second. In mid-January, that figure was 45%.

Respondents could give multiple reasons for their uncertainty. Fifty-one percent of the group said they were concerned about possible side effects, while 41% said they plan to wait and see if the vaccines were safe. Thirty-three percent said they do not trust the vaccine while 26% said they don’t trust the government.

Thirty-four percent of adults in North Dakota and Louisiana were uncertain about getting vaccinated, the highest shares among states. In Massachusetts, 9% of adults were less than certain about vaccinations, the smallest share of any state.

On May 12, the Food and Drug Administration authorized using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on children aged 12 to 15. Before this, the vaccine was authorized to people 16 and older. The two other vaccines are only available to those 18 and older.

In about two weeks, 6.2 million Americans aged 12 to 17 — 24% of the demographic — at least started their vaccinations. About 2.3 million in the group — 9% of the demographic — completed their vaccinations in May.

State-level vaccination rates for the age group mirror overall vaccination rates, as states in the Northeast and West have higher rates than those in the South. In Vermont, 54% of children 12 and up started their vaccinations. In Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine, more than two in five have started their shots.

On the other end, the vaccination rate for the age group in Mississippi and Alabama was 5%.

Track vaccination rates across states and demographics on the Vaccine Tracker.