these 12 people are out there giving misinformation. anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. it's killing people. it's bad information". he went on to explain that "my hope is that facebook, instead of taking it personally that somehow i'm saying facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine". in late-july, amid increasing covid-19 hospitalizations in a number of republican-led states, some republican politicians became more vocal in promoting vaccination, including senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, senator of texas john cornyn, and former surgeon general jerome adams. governor of florida ron desantis—who has been critical of fauci and covid-19 restrictions—stated in a press appearance that vaccines were "saving lives" and "reducing mortality" (citing the majority of hospitalizations being unvaccinated individuals), while criticizing mask mandates as displaying a lack of confidence in the efficacy of vaccines. mcconnell used campaign funds to purchase radio advertisements in his home state of kentucky to promote vaccination; the ad features mcconnell discussing his childhood battle with polio, and stating that the development of multiple safe and effective covid-19 vaccines in such a short time was "nothing short of a modern medical miracle", in comparison to the "decades" it took to develop a polio vaccine. a number of conservative commentators also abruptly made statements in support of vaccination, including fox news hosts steve doocy and sean hannity during broadcasts of fox & friends and hannity respectively, newsmax ceo and trump confidant christopher ruddy (who praised biden in an op-ed for "making a huge dent" in the pandemic by embracing and prioritizing the rollout of the "effective vaccine" inherited from the trump presidency), and conservative commentator ben shapiro. however, hannity subsequently walked back his remarks on his radio show and hannity, arguing that he never urged his viewers to get the vaccine, and adding the caveat that they should get the vaccine "if it's right for you", after doing "all of your research" and speaking with medical professionals that they trust. on july 26, 2021, a number of organizations announced that they would mandate the vaccination of their employees, including the american medical association and american nurses association, and frontline health care workers of the department of veterans affairs. california and new york city announced that all government employees would be subject to weekly testing if they are not vaccinated. on july 29, president biden similarly announced that unvaccinated federal employees and on-site contractors will be subject to mandatory social distancing, masks, weekly or bi-weekly covid-19 testing, and limitations on work travel. biden cited delta variant and a "pandemic of the unvaccinated" as justification for the measures. he also announced that the federal government planned to use funds from the american rescue plan to reimburse small and medium-sized businesses for paid time off for employee vaccine appointments (similar to paid time off provided for voting in elections), and called for states to offer $100 payments to the newly vaccinated using american rescue plan funding as an "extra incentive to boost vaccination rates, protect communities, and save lives." biden stated that "i know that paying people to get vaccinated might sound unfair to folks that have gotten vaccinated already but here's the deal: if incentives help us beat this virus, i believe we should use them." august 2021 on august 1, the cdc reported that there had been a 24% week-over-week increase in the number of first doses administered, especially in states with lower vaccination rates. as of august 2, at least 70% of u.s. adults had received at least one vaccine dose. on august 6, the cdc reported that half of the u.s. population has been fully vaccinated. several major cities announced or approved plans to restrict access to non-essential indoor locations such as cinemas, restaurants, and other entertainment venues, to those who are vaccinated. the fda gave full approval to the pfizer-biontech vaccine on august 23 for patients 16 and older, prompting president biden to encourage those who had been waiting for full approval to get vaccinated. anthony fauci projected that at least 20% of unvaccinated americans "will now step forward and get vaccinated" due to the approval. with the approval, it was also announced that the department of defense was preparing guidance requiring the vaccination of military members for covid-19, with press secretary john kirby stating that this would "ensure the safety of our service members and promote the readiness of our force, not to mention the health and safety of the communities around the country in which we live." october 2021 a poster on a massachusetts train station offering covid-19 vaccines for children 5 through 11 years of age. on october 20, the white house said it had enough pfizer-biontech pediatric vaccine for every child in the country aged 5–11 and that it expected federal health officials to approve the vaccine within weeks, upon which approval the white house planned to begin distributing the doses. dr. fauci said on october 24 that it seemed likely that the fda might approve the vaccine for distribution in early november. on october 29, 2021, the u.s. food and drug administration authorized the emergency use of the pfizer-biontech covid-19 vaccine for children 5 through 11 years of age. vice president harris received her booster shot of the moderna vaccine on october 30. june 2022 on june 18, the cdc recommended vaccines for children as young as 6 months, with a rollout of these vaccines beginning the week after. vaccination mandates main article: covid-19 vaccination mandates in the united states these paragraphs are an excerpt from covid-19 vaccination mandates in the united states. over the course of the covid-19 pandemic, covid-19 vaccine mandates have been enacted by numerous states and municipalities in the united states, and also by private entities. in september 2021, president joe biden announced that the federal government would take steps to mandate covid-19 vaccination for certain entities under the authority of the federal government or federal agencies. most federal mandates thus imposed were either overturned through litigation, or withdrawn by the administration, although a mandate on health care workers has remained in place. a small number of states have gone in the opposite direction, through executive orders or legislation designed to limit vaccination mandates. vaccinations by state and territory number of people who have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine. also, the percentage by state or territory. as of june 3, 2022. state/territory vaccinated % of pop. alabama 3,090,117 63% alaska 512,683 70.1% arizona 5,361,796 73.7% arkansas 2,024,120 67.1% california 32,605,347 82.5% colorado 4,593,119 79.8% connecticut 3,433,007 95% delaware 815,451 83.7% florida 17,138,353 79.8% georgia 6,980,368 65.7% hawaii 1,243,635 87.8% idaho 1,107,825 62% illinois 9,708,189 76.6% indiana 4,157,548 61.8% iowa 2,151,825 68.2% kansas 2,181,870 74.9% kentucky 2,968,456 66.4% louisiana 2,848,292 61.3% maine 1,226,747 91.3% maryland 5,260,427 87% massachusetts 6,829,570 95% michigan 6,717,817 67.3% minnesota 4,253,011 75.4% mississippi 1,782,209 59.9% missouri 4,081,989 66.5% montana 700,374 65.5% nebraska 1,364,224 70.5% nevada 2,332,395 75.7% new hampshire 1,210,143 89% new jersey 8,079,293 91% new mexico 1,853,965 88.4% new york 17,636,744 90.7% north carolina 8,925,348 85.1% north dakota 502,017 65.9% ohio 7,466,872 63.9% oklahoma 2,829,476 71.5% oregon 3,301,377 78.3% pennsylvania 10,953,487 85.6% rhode island 1,054,432 95% south carolina 3,504,526 68.1% south dakota 683,077 77.2% tennessee 4,266,051 62.5% texas 21,403,595 73.8% utah 2,321,276 72.4% vermont 587,103 94.1% virginia 7,361,040 86.2% washington 6,183,446 81.2% west virginia 1,170,466 65.3% wisconsin 4,200,761 72.1% wyoming 337,550 58.3% 50 states 253,302,809 ?% american samoa 45,415 95% district of columbia 722,457 95% guam 154,504 91.7% northern mariana islands 45,593 87.9% puerto rico 3,044,677 95% us virgin islands 70,350 66.2% u.s. territories 4,082,996 ?% united states 257,385,805 ?% marshall islands 36,481 46.9% micronesia 69,545 68% palau 20,439 94.9% compact of free association 126,465 ?% usa + cofa 257,512,270 ?% vaccinations in the u.s. military on august 9, 2021, all servicemembers received a memo explaining that, under a plan endorsed by president biden and by military leadership, covid-19 vaccination would become mandatory within about a month. about a third of active u.s. military service members had already been vaccinated as of late april; and about two-thirds (73% of all service members) had already been vaccinated by the time the memo was sent. the u.s. navy had been the fastest to begin vaccination in early 2021. as of april 22, 2021, considering active military personnel who had received at least one dose, the u.s. navy had the highest percentage at 51%, the marines at 36%, the air force/space force at 34%, and the army at 27%. by late may 2021, at least 58% of active military personnel had received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine. as of april 9, 2021, 39% of u.s. marines to whom the military offered the vaccine had refused it. the highest rate of refusal was at camp lejeune in north carolina, where 57% of marines had refused the vaccine. on august 23, 2021, the pfizer-biotech vaccine got its full fda approval, prompting vaccinations to be required for all active duty, reserve, and national guard troops starting august 25. by the time the vaccination requirement order was sent out, only 68% of active-duty troops were fully vaccinated. on september 1, 2021, the u.s. navy mandated vaccination of all active-duty navy sailors and u.s. marines by november 28 and of reservists by december 28. on september 3, 2021, the u.s. air force mandated vaccination of all active-duty airmen and u.s. space force guardians by november 2, while air force reservists had until december 2. on september 14, 2021, the u.s. army mandated vaccination of all active duty soldiers by december 15 and of reservists by june 30, 2022. vaccine certificates the u.s. does not issue a federally mandated covid-19 certificate nor a digital proof that would allow venues to check the vaccine status of participants consistently. cdc vaccine cards that contain personal information including patient numbers and place of vaccinations are accepted in those european countries where american military personnel are stationed. however, those cards are not immediately transferrable to eu digital covid certificates since cdc cards are not digitally validated and do not contain a counterfeit-proof or unique identifier. asian countries have similar health certificate requirements for entering their territories. the lack of a federal system for checking covid-19 status has put the united states in a disadvantage compared to nations in europe and asia. public opinion the kaiser family foundation conducts ongoing polling and analysis in a project called the kff covid-19 vaccine monitor. it considers demographics including age, race, political party, education, and insurance status when examining vaccine hesitancy. a kff study in december 2020 showed that 27% of the general public, and 29% of health careworkers, were hesitant to be vaccinated. in december 2020 a gallup poll found that 63% of americans were willing to receive the covid-19 vaccine. safety concerns about the currently available vaccines are a primary factor in vaccine hesitancy and refusal. most unvaccinated adults are not confident in the safety of the available vaccines and while 63% of parents are confident the vaccines are safe for adults only about half of those who are confident in safety for adults are confident they are safe for ages 12–17 and it is further reduced for even younger age groups. the need for more research for the vaccines is the most stated reason given by parents for not wanting to have their child vaccinated. political leanings are reflected in vaccine hesitancy. early in the pandemic, before vaccines were available, a poll conducted may 20–21, 2020, found that 44% of republicans and 19% of democrats believed a debunked conspiracy theory that bill gates was plotting to use a covid-19 vaccine to inject microchips into the population. months after vaccination began, a monmouth poll conducted april 8–12, 2021, found that two-thirds of democratic voters had already been vaccinated but only one-third of republican voters had done so. a quinnipiac poll conducted on the same dates found that 45% of republicans said they did not plan to be vaccinated. the new york times wrote that the vaccination program was "hitting what appears to be a soft ceiling" as it moved to dealing with the demographic groups where vaccine hesitancy was stronger. in january 2021, approximately one third of the population was concerned the vaccine might be