More than 80% of eligible Californians 12 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.
California, the nation’s most populous state, ranks ninth out of all states in the percentage of eligible residents at least partially inoculated against the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“But again, 80% is not where we need to go. We still need to reach out to those that are on the fence,” Newsom said at a vaccine site in Oakland on Tuesday. “I encourage everybody that hasn’t been vaccinated to avail themselves to these life-saving vaccines that are not only effective, but are truly the answer to how we get this pandemic once and for all behind us.”
More than 48 million doses have been administered in the state, data from the CDC shows.
“California has put more shots in arms than any other state,” Newsom said. “We’ve made incredible progress vaccinating our population in a remarkably short amount of time, and our work continues to close the gap in our most impacted communities.”
Over 643,000 shots were given out in California just last week — marking a 44.7% increase compared to mid-July — after the FDA’s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for those age 16 and older, according to news release from the governor’s office. The state has seen five straight weeks of more than 500,000 vaccines administered.
About 65% of Californians are fully vaccinated, meaning they are two weeks out from receiving the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two doses of either Pfizer or Moderna.
The state has taken measures to encourage vaccination, including: requiring all state workers to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week; requiring workers in health care settings to be fully vaccinated or receive their second dose by Sept. 30; requiring all school staff to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week; implementing universal masking in school settings; and providing $350 million in incentive payments to help close the vaccination gap between Medi-Cal beneficiaries and Californians as a whole.