Veterans Affairs mobile unit based in Spokane helps convince skeptical rural vets to get coronavirus vaccines

The unit has made three trips to Libby, Mont., an old mining town of 2,700 where 12 percent of the residents are veterans.
(Washington Post photo by Tony Bynum)

The Department of Veterans Affairs has deployed mobile medical clinics in an effort to get more vets their coronavirus vaccinations, But they're running into resistance in many rural areas, as demonstrated by a Washington Post story about a unit based in Spokane.

"Even as the Biden administration’s campaign to inoculate the country accelerates each day, the agency has struggled to persuade a vulnerable population to protect itself and help the country get to herd immunity," Lisa Rein reports for the Post. "The rugged communities that stretch from eastern Washington through the Idaho Panhandle into northwestern Montana include some of the country’s highest concentrations of former service members. Mostly conservative and white, they are also highly suspicious of coronavirus vaccines. In many cities and suburbs, millions are lining up for shots they have waited more than a year to get. Here, the political and cultural currents are pulling in the other direction, against the federal government, public health experts and a new president many of these veterans distrust. VA’s halting and labor-intensive effort may be a warning for the country as vaccine advocates seek to persuade unwilling Americans to sign up." Read more here.