Puerto Rico leads US states, territories in COVID-19 vaccination

Puerto Rico leads U.S. states and territories with the highest vaccination rate against the coronavirus.

The island has 72.2 percent of its total population fully vaccinated, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.

That means 2.3 million out of the island’s 3.3 million population have been fully vaccinated.

Other states and territories close behind Puerto Rico include Guam with 71.5 percent fully vaccinated, Vermont with 70.6 percent vaccinated and Connecticut with 70 percent vaccinated.

Puerto Rico has been able to contain the virus on the island with strict coronavirus restrictions that were implemented throughout the past year and a half. 

The island only recently lifted a pandemic curfew that was put in place, and it also lifted its ban on alcohol sales.

The territory is still requiring masks indoors and is making employees for certain industries show their coronavirus vaccination cards to their employers. 

As of Tuesday, the CDC says there is a positivity rate of 3 to 4.9 percent for coronavirus cases in Puerto Rico.

Among the eligible population, 80.9 percent are fully vaccinated against the virus. 

Other states in the U.S. have been more resistant to coronavirus restrictions and have chosen to not implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates.