A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that a ranking of the top 10 states with the highest vaccination rates for kids age 5 to 11 includes DC, Maryland, and Virginia (the District is being counted as a state for these purposes).
Since the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its recommendation for Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years old on November 2, approximately 4.8 million kids in that age group got their first dose. The foundation’s analysis is based on the CDC’s Data Tracker.
The District comes in at number 5 on the study’s list of states with the most vaccinated younger kids. In DC, 13,727 kids (just over 27 percent) have received at least one dose. Virginia ranks next at number 6, with 193,125 children vaccinated (also 27 percent). Maryland comes in at number 9, with 126,728 vaccinated kids (24.2 percent).
Trends in childhood vaccinations often reflect those in adults—the Northeast boasts some of the highest vaccination rates (Vermont is #1 on the study’s list), whereas the South generally trails at the bottom (the lowest rates are found in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama). West Virginia has the lowest rate of all, with just 3.6 percent of kids getting the shot.
According to US News, Maryland’s Montgomery County ranks in the top ten most vaccinated (for all age groups) counties in the States.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
