Nineteen of Mexico’s 32 states have first-dose COVID-19 vaccination rates above 70%, the Health Ministry reported Wednesday.

Mexico City, the country’s coronavirus epicenter since the beginning of the pandemic, has the highest coverage among the eligible population with 93% of adults having had at least one shot.

Querétaro ranks second with 92% followed by Quintana Roo (86%) and Yucatán and Sinaloa (both 85%).

Five other states have rates of 80% or higher. They are Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosí, Baja California and Tamaulipas.

Nine other states have rates above 70%: Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Durango, Nuevo León, Sonora, Hidalgo, Colima, Coahuila and Nayarit.

The national vaccination rate is 69% with 61.4 million adults having received at least one shot. If Mexico’s population of children is taken into consideration, the country’s vaccination rate falls to just below 50%.

Minors haven’t been vaccinated in Mexico with the exception of a small number of adolescents who have obtained injunctions ordering they be given the shot. However, the number may rise.

An opposition politician in Nuevo León said Wednesday that injunctions for vaccination have been registered on behalf of 1,800 youths in Nuevo León.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported 7,040 new cases on Thursday, lifting Mexico’s accumulated tally to just under 3.55 million. The official COVID-19 death toll rose by 433 to 270,436, a figure that the government has acknowledged is a significant undercount.

There are just under 80,000 estimated active cases across Mexico, a significant decline compared to the peak of the delta variant-driven third wave last month. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday that the pandemic is now on the wane in all 32 states.

Mexico News Daily