In White House vaccine distribution push, some rural areas fear being left behind

[DonViejo]

Amid the new administration effort, some rural health care providers say they — and the unique needs of the communities they serve — are being left behind.

March 13, 2021, 9:14 AM EST

By Shannon Pettypiece

WASHINGTON — Each Friday afternoon for more than two months the staff at the Heart of Texas Healthcare System in the rural town of Brady, Texas have rehearsed what they will do when their first doses of Covid-19 vaccine arrive.

They have the space at the town civic center ready to go, a plan for how they will let the public know when they can sign up for an appointment, and staff trained to dole out the shots. Yet each week they put in their request for 500 doses from the state — and each week, just as with other rural hospitals across West Texas, the doses never arrive.

“We have been ready for two months. The only missing piece in the equation is the vaccine,” Tim Jones, CEO of Heart of Texas Healthcare System — the only hospital serving a four county region two hours west of Austin — said last week. “This story is ubiquitous with every little town of 2,500 to 5,000 people. From Amarillo to Brownsville, it is a carbon copy.”

President Joe Biden has emphasized getting the Covid-19 vaccine to those most affected by the pandemic, with a focus on racial and ethnic minority groups, such as Blacks and Latinos, who have been dying at a higher rate than whites and have thus far been less likely to receive the vaccine. But in that push, some rural health care providers say they are being left behind, with many of the steps the White House has taken so far disproportionally benefiting urban areas and not the unique challenges rural areas have been struggling with.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-push-equitable-vaccine-distribution-rural-areas-fear-being-n1259988

[tanyev]

1. Whoa, whoa, whoa---they've requested vaccines from the state and they're blaming Biden

because they haven't gotten any? I think y'all need to take this up with Gov. Open up! Abbot.

[FoxNewsSucks]

2. Aren't they the same ones

who were refusing to get vaccinated for "the hoax"?

I have no problem letting people like that go to the end of the line.