Two months after the first COVID-19 shots were administered, the race to vaccinate older Americans is gaining traction, with more than a third of people 65 and up having received their first dose in states that have provided data.

The finding comes from an Associated Press analysis of information from 27 states where data is available. Those states account for just over half of all first doses administered nationwide.

“This is very good news. This is a sign we’re doing it right,” said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Vaccine hesitancy is dropping quickly as older Americans talk to their friends who have been vaccinated, he said. “They’re watching people they know get the vaccine and seeing it’s safe.”

The effort is uneven, with many other states still lagging behind on vaccinations of the higher-risk population.

Mokdad added: “We can do better. I can’t wait for the day when all those who want the vaccine can get the vaccine. The system we have in place is working. We have to keep pushing for more vaccine.”

The proportion of vaccines given to those 65 years and older varies. It’s about three-quarters of all first-dose shots in Florida and more than two-thirds in North Carolina.

In Indiana, Alaska and West Virginia, almost half of the population 65 years and older has received the first dose. In North Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Florida and Utah, about a third of that population has received the first dose.

Oregon, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Nebraska and Maryland, are on the lower end, with 20% or less of the 65-and-older population.

The administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers said Wednesday that they would create a vaccine task force that will brainstorm ways to administer COVID-19 shots more rapidly.

As of Wednesday, the federal government had distributed 46.4 million vaccine doses to states and other jurisdictions, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, almost 34 million people, or 10% of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Nearly 10.5 million people, or 3% of the population, have received both doses.

President Joe Biden, who is moving to ease supply bottlenecks, announced Thursday that the U.S. will have enough supply of the two-dose vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. He said the U.S. had secured contractual commitments from Moderna and Pfizer to deliver the 600 million doses by the end of July - more than a month earlier than initially anticipated.

Older Americans have borne the brunt of the deaths and hospitalizations from the virus, which has claimed more than 473,000 lives in the U.S. About 80% of the people who have died from COVID have been adults 65 and older.

There’s not yet enough data to analyze whether vaccination is reducing infections and deaths in that age group, Mokdad said.

But his research center, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, plans to look at that during the coming weeks.

Experts recommend that people continue wearing masks and practicing social distancing even after receiving COVID-19 shots.

Although recipients are expected to get some level of protection within a couple of weeks of the first shot, full protection may not happen until a couple weeks after the second shot. It’s unclear whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus.