CDC director: There are 'unsettling gaps' in vaccinations across the country

During Friday’s White House COVID-19 briefing, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that areas with the lightest vaccine coverage might be where the coronavirus strikes next.

Video transcript

ROCHELLE WALENSKY: With ongoing partnerships, we are working as quickly as possible to get the rest of the country vaccinated. As we look at the data on vaccine coverage, it is important for us to dive deeper into what we are seeing across the country. We see on this map that vaccine coverage is not uniform across the country. Please note, we have state-level data but not county-level data for Texas and Hawaii. Otherwise, looking county by county there are some unsettling gaps in our coverage.

Some areas are doing very well, with greater than 65% coverage for those over the age of 65, as indicated by dark blue. But many areas have far less coverage, less than 47%, as indicated by the lightest shaded areas. Because this virus is an opportunist, we anticipate that the areas of lightest vaccine coverage now might be where the virus strikes next. And with modest protection of our oldest population, many more deaths could ensue.