FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Bluegrass State continued its steady march Thursday toward Gov. Andy Beshear's milestone of having 2.5 million people vaccinated against COVID-19.
As of Thursday afternoon, nearly 1.7 million residents had received at least one dose of one of the available vaccines, up about 200,000 from a week prior and bringing the commonwealth roughly two-thirds toward Beshear's goal, which he said would mark a "major" update to restrictions to gatherings and some industries that have been in place in some fashion since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
"It's in our hands," the governor said during his routine Thursday afternoon COVID-19 briefing. If the current rate of vaccination among Kentuckians were to hold steady, the state would reach the 2.5-million goal by late June or early July, clocking in at the buzzer of President Joe Biden's goal of groups across the country being able to celebrate the Independence Day holiday.
"We ought to be able to beat that," he adde, while also acknowledging a decline in vaccine demand in recent weeks.
He made a targeted call to younger Kentuckians, who are vaccinating at lower rates than older populations across the state.
"So many people from this age group have done the right thing on this so far," he said. "This is the next step."
Watch Beshear's full news conference here:
