COVID-19 Updates: How Alaska has the best rollout plan in the United States

After a year of quarantining, the light at the end of the tunnel is finally here. The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in mid-December, now more and more people are getting vaccinated. It’s been about two weeks since the vaccine became eligible to individuals 16 years of age or older .

According to Google Statistics, in a mere three months, the average of cases in Alaska has gone down from 686 cases a week in December, to 136 a week in March. This reflects the rate in which Alaska’s citizens have been getting the vaccine.

According to the Alaska Public Health Department of Health and Social Services Coronavirus Response Hub, as of March 26th, 30.8% of Alaskans have been given one dose of the vaccine, while 21.3% have received two doses. Most of the people have gotten the Pfizer vaccine over the Moderna vaccine. It wasn’t until recently that Alaskans have been getting the new Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

According to the CDC website on the different vaccines, the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective, takes two shots over 21 days to be fully effective and is recommended for people 18 years and older.

The Moderna vaccine is 94.5% effective, takes two shots over 28 days and is recommended for people 16 years and older.

Finally, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine requires one shot and is only 66.3% effective. You can find more information about the differences about the vaccines on the official CDC website.  

As a reference for how effective these vaccines are, the average flu shot is only 40%-60% effective.

The Alaska Public Department of Health and Social Services created a Coronavirus Response Hub. On the website you can see up-to-date information about Covid-19 information in Alaska. They have updates on vaccinations and resources to help you find vaccination locations. You can look at more specific information on the website at The Alaska Public Department of Health and Social Services Coronavirus Response Hub.