Over 18 million rural Americans are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, but the pace slowed a little last week

Vaccination rates as of Sept. 9 compared to the national average, adjusted to account for vaccinations not assigned to specific counties. Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version.

More than 18 million rural residents are now completely vaccinated against Covid-19, despite a slight decline in the number of new immunizations that were completed, The Daily Yonder reports.

"As of Sept. 9, nearly 18.2 million rural Americans had completed their vaccination regimen. That equates to about 39.6 percent of the total rural population," the Yonder's Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report. "Nearly 300,000 rural residents completed their vaccinations last week, compared to about 318,000 two weeks ago. That’s a decline of about 6%."

In metro counties, the new-vaccination rate fell by 14% last week. The completed vaccination rate in metro counties is 51.4%, which is 11.8 points higher than the rural rate, Murphy and Marema report.

Click here for more charts, maps and regional analysis from the Yonder, including an interactive map.