Rural residents reluctant to get vaccines: study

 

Bill Knight column for 1-28, 29 or 30, 2021

 Trips to the store might show that most folks are serious taking pandemic precautions, from wearing masks to keeping safe distances, but a new study says many rural residents nationally aren’t concerned about COVID-19, think the threat is exaggerated, or consider their responses a personal choice instead of a civic responsibility.

About one-third of rural residents are reluctant to get vaccinated, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, more so than city or suburban dwellers (27% and 25% respectively). Respondents said they probably wouldn’t or definitely wouldn’t get the vaccine, even if it’s free, safe and effective.

More than 470,000 Illinoisans already have received vaccine doses, and the state this week moved to phase 1B of its vaccination schedule. However, the country’s reserve supply of vaccinations is depleted, according to the Washington Post, so getting doses to states may be delayed.

Despite the previous administration’s claims that vaccines were set aside to ensure that people who’d received the first of two doses would be able to get the second, officials discovered that the government had stopped stockpiling vaccines weeks ago.

On the other hand, Illinois health-care systems are stepping up to vaccinate people 65 and older, and they’ll be contacted to schedule appointments in coming weeks, according to health departments. Also, health officials also will start offering vaccinations to frontline workers: first responders; school, child-care and shelter personnel; food and agriculture workers; manufacturing employees; corrections staff and inmates; U.S. Postal Service workers; and workers in public transit and grocery stores.

Further, there’s good news for areas in Illinois that are improving enough that some restrictions are being relaxed, such as permitting limited inside dining for the first time since November, expanding capacities for museums, casinos and large retailers, and bringing back indoor fitness classes and recreation programs.

Nevertheless, some suspicions persist despite the surge in the last few months, especially about whether the vaccines will make a difference.

But the vaccines are vital to beating back the pandemic, scientists say.

“The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines — the only two approved in the U.S. — are among the best vaccines ever created, with effectiveness rates of about 95% after two doses,” reported David Leonhardt in the New York Times. “That’s on par with the vaccines for chickenpox and measles. And a vaccine doesn’t even need to be so effective to reduce cases sharply and crush a pandemic.”

This month, rural America overall experienced a record number of COVID-19 infections, possibly showing that the surge’s pause over the holidays was due to interruptions in test reporting, not a fading threat. Rural counties reported 232,239 new infections in early January, according to the Center for Rural Strategies (CRS) – up 35% from the previous week, when rural COVID-19 deaths also peaked, at 4,084.

In fact, last month, rural residents were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than residents of the nation’s largest cities, reported Tim Marema of CRS.

“In December, there were 35.1 deaths per 100,000 from COVID-related causes in rural areas, versus 17.7 deaths per 100,000 in metropolitan areas with 1 million or more residents,” he reported. “The rural death rate has been higher than the metropolitan rate since mid-August.”

Experts say several factors could affect the outcome, such as rural hospitals having a greater percentage of COVID-19 patients and comparably limited bed availability, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which showed COVID-19 patients in rural hospitals increasing from 10% in October to 25% in December – 4% to 6% higher than urban hospitals.

“Because staffing can be more difficult to maintain in rural hospitals, the higher exposure in rural hospitals may put their staffs – and the hospitals they work in – at greater risk to maintain peak care capacity,” the HHS report says.

Meanwhile, another wrinkle in a vaccine rollout is fewer pharmacies with vaccination services available in rural areas.

The Rural Policy Research Institute in Iowa City said, “A significant number of the entities represented in the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs data will be unlikely to provide vaccination resources because of the nature of their business.”

The institute found 62,352 U.S. pharmacies likely to contribute to the actual administration of vaccines, but 688 rural counties without such capability.

            Such geographic differences require rural residents to be cautious and, yes, plan to be vaccinated.