| At the start of August, the American South was doing something that few observers of vaccine trends thought likely: It was leading the country in the rate of people getting their first Covid-19 shots. The South has long lagged behind the rest of the U.S. in Covid vaccination rates. But a surge in cases fueled by the delta variant that put thousands of people in the hospital changed things. Fear of the virus drove people to finally start lining up for vaccinations, and the region began to catch up with the rest of the nation. But with cases now declining, things are back to the way they were. Counties in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana had the biggest drop-off in vaccination rates between early August and early September, Bloomberg's new analysis of vaccine data found. The map below shows what's happening. Counties in orange had the biggest drop in vaccination rates. Counties in blue gained.  Why? In Louisiana, the recent high point in people starting vaccination came within a few days of the state's peak in cases. The same is true in Arkansas. "They were scared, and that increased the demand," says Rob Ator, who leads Arkansas's vaccine effort. With cases falling, there's less urgency. In Texas, cases are still climbing, but Republican Governor Greg Abbott has taken a public stance against vaccine mandates, and a bump in vaccinations driven by the start of the school year appears to have faded. The result is that the South is still behind. Even after the bump in August vaccinations, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana are all well below the U.S. average of 63% of people with at least one dose of a vaccine. And if their rates stay flat, they're likely to stay there.—Drew Armstrong | 
Post a Comment