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Comment by hodgesrm | Hacker News Reader

Berkeley 94707 zip code was already at 98% of eligible population with at least one shot on April 30th. [1] I would guess a number of cities will be overall in the 90% range pretty soon.

[1] https://abc7news.com/california-vaccination-rate-sf-vaccine-...

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Berkley is possibly the most liberal and educated area in the USA (of significant population) so of course it will be high. In your average city, we will be EXTREMELY lucky if it reaches 65-70%, in the rural areas of the country 50% would be a win.

Antivaxxers are strong in Berkeley. This is pretty impressive honestly, I would have expected to hit 90%, tops.

You're very right. Berkeley was the heart of the whole anti-vax movement a few years ago. So much so that I felt safer taking my (then newborn) to Eastern Europe than taking her to Berkeley.

But if you dig into the data, it's only one zip code in Berkeley with a high vax rate -- the wealthiest part of Berkeley up in the hills, which are mostly older people.

The zip code with all the students is one of the lowest in the state.

Zooming in, their map reports that vaccination rates in 94707 are now over 100% -- it's the gray region north of UC Berkeley. Perhaps folks are commuting in to 94707 to receive doses?

It could be more than 100% of the population count from the previous census.

These numbers are most likely people vaccinated whose address on the paperwork was zip code Z divided by census? population estimate of people who live in zip code Z.

There's lots of fun ways those numbers can be messed up including (but not limited to), people using a mailing address different from where they reside, census boundaries not matching mail delivery route boundaries, population movements, how people without mailing addresses are counted, data issues in the census, etc.

In the US, we have a lack of enthusiasm for comprehensive and compulsary tracking of where people reside, and as a result, data like this is always going to be messy.

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