These NH Seacoast Communities Have the Highest Vaccination Rates

The town of Exeter is blowing surrounding Seacoast communities out of the water when it comes to the percentage of residents who are completely vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to officials at the NH Department of Health and Human Services, there are 15,358 residents in Exeter and 12,252 of them have been fully vaccinated. That means close to 4/5 of the population in the town has gotten their shots.

Looking at the map to see which communities have the highest percentages of vaccinated individuals, Rye and Stratham are also doing well.

A total of 3,649 residents in Rye are fully vaccinated. That town's population is 5,470, according to the DHHS map.

Stratham has 4,814 of 7,547 residents vaccinated. That means both towns have more than 3/5 of their populations protected.

According to active case numbers as of Wednesday, Rochester, Dover and Portsmouth still have the most active COVID cases on the New Hampshire Seacoast.

Rochester had 67, Dover had 36 and Portsmouth had 27 active cases.

A total of 15,401 people in Rochester have been fully vaccinated. That city has a population of 31,414, according to DHHS officials.

Dover has 19,888 fully vaccinated people in a city with 32,228 residents, according to DHHS officials.

Portsmouth, which has 22,171 residents according to DHHS officials, has 14,016 vaccinated people.

President Joe Biden is expected to impose stringent new vaccine and testing rules on federal workers, employers with more than 100 people and health care staff, according to CNN.

Biden will sign an executive order requiring all government employees be vaccinated against Covid-19, with no option of being regularly tested to opt out, according to CNN.

During his press briefing on Aug. 12, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu pushed the importance of vaccination, but acknowledged that the decision to get vaccinated is a personal one.

Sununu encouraged all employers to speak with employees before mandating vaccination.

"The most important thing is to talk to the employees. Don't just make a decision in a vacuum," Sununu said.

Contact Managing News Editor Kimberley Haas at Kimberley.Haas@townsquaremedia.com.