Pandemic roundup: How vaccinated people can be infected; interactive map shows latest rural vaccination rates

Rural/urban vaccination rates as of July 15, compared to national average and adjusted to account for vaccinations not assigned to specific counties. Map by The Daily Yonder; click it to enlarge it, or click here for the interactive version.

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and immunization efforts:

The Washington Post has a good explainer on how fully vaccinated people can get infected with the virus, and does a good job separating fact from fiction on the topic. Read more here.

The vaccination rate in nonmetropolitan counties rose to 25.5 percent by July 15, an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the week prior, The Daily Yonder reports, offering in-depth data, regional analysis, charts, and an interactive county-level map (above).

In a recent Facebook post, an Alabama doctor shared her experience with dying Covid-19 patients who told her they wish they'd been vaccinated. "They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn't get as sick," she wrote. "They thought it was 'just the flu'. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back." Read more here.

Over the past year, many Republican-led states have passed laws and issued orders preventing local governments from imposing mask mandates and other protective measures. That has made such areas more vulnerable to the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus. Read more here.

A growing number of top Republican lawmakers are urging their supporters to get vaccinated as the Delta variant surges across the nation. Read more here.