More than one in five New Hampshire residents has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. That puts the state narrowly ahead of most other states, according to CDC data.

Over the past two weeks, New Hampshire has managed to improve its standing when it comes to getting an initial vaccine shot to its residents. On Feb. 24, we were in the top 20 states; by March 9, we were in the top 10.

We’ve also improved our standing when it comes to the share of available vaccines administered. Two weeks ago, we were toward the bottom of all states, but as of March 10 we fall closer to the middle.

In the same timeframe, however, we’ve fallen farther behind in terms of the share of residents who are fully vaccinated. As of Feb. 24, we were ahead of about half of states; as of yesterday, we were closer to the bottom 10.

Each state updates its vaccine data at different intervals, and it’s not clear how much delay there is between when someone in New Hampshire receives their dose and when that’s logged into the federal immunization database. And while it’s hard to attribute changes in weekly vaccine distribution to specific policy decisions, it comes amid an ongoing push to expand vaccine access in New Hampshire on several fronts.

Over the past month, regional public health networks have ramped up efforts to reach underserved communities across the state, through a program designed to get vaccines to people at heightened risk for COVID-19 or who otherwise might have trouble getting a shot.

State health officials, working with regional public health networks, have also expanded their focus on reaching homebound individuals. And last weekend, the state held its first mass vaccination site at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, setting a goal of reaching more than 11,000 people in three days.

But it’s worth keeping in mind that New Hampshire’s race to get more shots to its residents also comes as lots of other states are doing the same — and as more states, including New Hampshire, are getting thousands of new doses by the week. Our ranking relative to other states depends on all of these factors, and it’s liable to shift day to day, or week to week.

 

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