SHOT OF HOPE

Alaska Opens Vaccine Eligibility to Anyone Over the Age of 16

Nationally, vaccinations in the U.S. are hitting 2.15 million per day.

Alaska has said all individuals age 16 and older who live or work in the state are now eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine, making it the first state to allow all of its residents access to the vaccine. Alaska has fully vaccinated 16 percent of its population, the highest in the country. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Tuesday evening, that he would encourage all “Alaskans that are thinking about” getting vaccinated to do so, adding that the vaccine “gives us the ability now in Alaska to far outpace other states.” The pace of vaccinations in the United States has continued to accelerate, with about 2.15 million doses being given daily, according to a New York Times database. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that about 61.1 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, including about 32.1 million people who have been fully vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine or the two-dose series made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. “We want to get our economy back up and running. We want to get our society back up and running,” Dunleavy said. “We want to put this virus behind us—as far as possible, as soon as possible.”