New coronavirus vaccinations in rural counties fell 20% last week; rural rate stays 11.8 percentage points below metro

Vaccination rates as of Sept. 30 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.

"After increasing for five out of the last six weeks, the pace of new vaccinations in rural counties fell last week by about 20%. The number of new vaccinations in metropolitan counties was down by nearly a third," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. During the week of Sept. 24-30, about 348,000 rural Americans completed their coronavirus vaccinations, down from about 448,000 the week before. About 2.2 million Americans in metropolitan counties completed their vaccinations, down from about 3.1 million the week before.

"As of September 30, 42.1% of the nation’s rural population was fully vaccinated. In metropolitan counties, 54.0% of the population is fully vaccinated," Murphy and Marema report. "The gap between the rural and metropolitan vaccination rates remained steady at about 11.8 percentage points."

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