(NEWS MEDICAL) – When he became eligible for the coronavirus vaccine in Illinois, Tom Arnold, 68, said he didn’t need any convincing. He raises cattle, hogs and chickens in Elizabeth, a small town in the state's northwestern corner. After all, who better to understand why herd immunity matters than a herdsman?
“Being a livestock producer, I’m well aware of vaccinations and vaccines,” he said. “That’s how we develop immunity in our animals. We’re always vaccinating the breeding stock to pass on immunity to the little ones.”
Boosting covid-19 vaccination rates in rural America is now less a problem of access and more an issue of trust. Only about 40% of people in Jo Daviess County, where Arnold lives, are fully vaccinated. Arnold said he doesn’t get why people are acting as if the pandemic were over. Scientists say those under-vaccinated parts of the country like Jo Daviess are at serious risk, especially as the highly contagious delta variant spreads rapidly.
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