A tale of two Covid Americas: can the US unite behind a pandemic strategy?

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) In Mississippi and Massachusetts, two pharmacists working in very different parts of America have seen a sharp drop in demand for Covid-19 vaccines in recent months. Their best guesses for why they’ve seen such slowdowns diverge considerably.

Saad Dinno, co-owner and pharmacist at four drugstores in the suburbs of Boston, wagers that most people in his community are up to date on their vaccinations. As he speaks from Acton Pharmacy, in the Massachusetts town of the same name, his bet is a fairly safe one – 95% of the people in this county have had at least one shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Bob Lomenick, the owner of G&M Pharmacy in the northern Mississippi college town of Oxford, where just 60% of people in the county have received a single shot, offers a different explanation.

“We still have lots of people, even today, who just refuse to get the vaccine,” said Lomenick. “I don’t get into controversial discussions with them, all the evidence proves they [vaccines] are effective. I got all of mine and my family got all of theirs.”

The Boston suburbs where Dinno practices are awash in blue Democratic voters, with few surrounding areas voting for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election by margins smaller than 50%. Meanwhile, precincts in Oxford split closely between Donald Trump and Biden, but voters in many surrounding districts broke for Trump by a margin of 74% or more, a detailed map of both precincts showed. ..............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/23/us-divided-pandemic-covid-vaccines

[SharonClark]

1. "can the US unite behind a pandemic strategy?"

That horse has left the barn a long time ago.

[in2herbs]

2. Sure we can. Those that are vaccinated get treated for Covid if they get it. Those that are not

vaccinated don't get treatment for Covid and/or their insurance company is not required to pay their medical costs.

[empedocles]

3. It seems to be a deep cultural thing, masks and shots. Route 66 coming out of D.C. into NoVa,

is undergoing massive construction projects. major widening and overpasses for miles. Construction dust clouds are thick. The smell of asphalt paving very strong. All very obvious, impossible to strongly notice, pollution health hazards. Yet many, [100?+] construction workers on foot in the thick of it - and relatively few wearing masks.