When one analyzes the vaccination progress in all 50 states in the US, there emerges a definite trend that I will outline below. These states can be split into 5 distinct groups and what is interesting is that these groups are very similar to the 2020 presidential election results.
The first group are the states that are doing the best . These states have more than 60% of people getting at least one dose. This group is made of every state that voted by more than 10 points towards Biden (safe blue states), with the exception of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania (which still voted for Biden but not by more than 10 pct).
The second group includes states that are nearing 60% vaccination rates. These states are the swing states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Florida (the first two voted for Biden while Florida voted for Trump, all by close margins).
The third group are the states that have 50 to 55% of their population vaccinated with at least one dose. These include red states like Alaska, Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Kentucky, and Iowa (While Iowa is not exactly safe, it is very close). They also include swing states like Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, and North Carolina (Nevada, Arizona and Michigan voted for Biden while Texas and North Carolina voted for Trump).
The next group are states that have 45 to 50% of their population vaccinated with at least one dose. These states are all red states, except for Georgia, which voted very narrowly for Biden (Ohio, which is also part of this group, is very close to being a safe red state).
This next group are the states that are doing the absolute worst in vaccination (based on at least one dose). These states have less than 45% vaccination numbers. These states are the deeply southern red states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana plus the very red western states of Idaho and Wyoming.
Now that we’ve broken it all down, the clear trend we see is that as the percentage of vaccinations go down, the state starts trending towards being more conservative or Republican. In other words, Republican governors really need to get their act together on the vaccination front. That is the only way we can defeat COVID.