More than half of Californians 12 and older, the current minimum age to be eligible for one of the vaccines against COVID-19, are fully inoculated, a significant milestone just days before the state’s major lifting of pandemic restrictions on June 15.
Additionally, 68.5% of Californians 12 and older have received at least one shot of a vaccine, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Among Californians 18 and older, 71.6% have at least one dose and 56.8% are fully vaccinated.
And among residents 65 and older, who were prioritized early for vaccination, 91.6% have at least one shot and 73.3% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Those vaccination numbers vary from state estimates because of reporting lags and differences in estimated population sizes.
California has so far administered 39.3 million vaccine doses and is averaging 146,367 daily shots. That’s a 16% increase in the daily average from a week ago and comes not long after the state began raffling prizes to vaccinated residents, including several winners receiving $50,000.
As vaccination rates have increased, the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have declined. On Friday, California counties reported 904 new cases, according to data tracked by this news organization. The state has a seven-day average of 951 cases.
Los Angeles County, the largest and hardest hit in the state, reported 178 new cases, followed by San Diego County with 92 and Sacramento County with 69. They were followed by Contra Costa, San Bernardino and San Joaquin counties. There have been 3,772,878 cases of COVID-19 in the state during the pandemic, although that doesn’t include cases where the infected person went untested.
The number of patients has also fallen significantly in the past few months. As of Thursday, there were 982 patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California, a 1.9% decline from the preceding day. There were also 233 patients in intensive care unit beds with confirmed COVID-19 cases, a 0.4% decrease from the preceding day.
That has also meant fewer new COVID-19 fatalities. On Friday, counties reported 39 deaths from the virus, for a seven-day average of 28 deaths. During the pandemic, 62,875 people have died in the state from COVID-19.
Santa Clara County reported 10 deaths, followed by Orange, San Joaquin and Alameda counties all with three new deaths each.
Santa Clara County’s 10 new deaths and 28 new cases add up to 119,419 cases and 2,175 deaths during the pandemic. Alameda County reported 35 new cases and three deaths for a total of 89,339 cases and 1,285 deaths. Contra Costa County reported 60 new cases and one death for a total of 70,228 cases and 806 deaths.
San Mateo County reported 24 new cases and two new deaths for a total of 42,214 cases and 581 deaths. And San Francisco reported five new cases and no new deaths for a total of 36,824 cases and 547 deaths during the pandemic.