Numbers continue to climb for Alaskans that are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The state Department of Health and Social Services said that 144,644 have been fully vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 shot, which equates to about 19.5% of the state’s population. For those who have received at least one shot, 209,130 have received at least one dose, which is roughly 28.1% of the state’s population. There have been a total of 355,793 doses administered.
Across the Kenai Peninsula, 9,985 residents have been fully vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 shot. For those who have received at least one shot, 15,213 residents across the Peninsula received at least one dose. The DHSS reports that there have been a total of 25,146 doses of the vaccine administered across the Peninsula so far.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy spoke to CNN last week on Alaska being the first state in the U.S. to allow COVID-19 vaccinations available to anyone over the age of 16 who lives or works in the state. “You know, Alaska is used to catastrophes whether it’s volcanoes or earthquakes, fires, high winds, tsunamis. We’ve had everything thrown at us, often times on a daily basis. We have a pretty good response system set up to emergencies. When the virus came to Alaska, we were the first state to accept the plane from Wuhan that had our state department officials and families. We stood up our catastrophe team and turned it into a pandemic team. We have a pretty good integrated system here in Alaska. A health system in which you have some centralized aspects to it with the state. There’s a lot of decentralization. Our tribes have done a fantastic job. The Indian Health Service has done a fantastic job. Our native health consortiums have done a fantastic job. We have the highest per capita number of Native Americans in our state, 15% in the state of Alaska as well as veterans. The highest per capita veterans in the state of Alaska. Everybody’s pulled together. Any one of these organizations and individuals to get us to where we are at today and I couldn’t be prouder of Alaska.”
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy discusses how he is advocating for Covid-19 vaccination to residents who are hesitant: “When you get the virus, and it does take you out for 14 days, that’s a long time.” pic.twitter.com/ZQKOZWFkua
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 18, 2021
Dunleavy says that he believes Alaska will reach herd immunity before anyone else in the United States.