Rural coronavirus shots down by nearly half in past 3 weeks

Vaccination rates as of Oct. 7, compared to the national average and 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.

Though new coronavirus vaccinations surged in nonmetropolitan counties for most of August and September, rates are down by nearly half in the past three weeks. About 240,000 rural residents completed their vaccinations in the first week of October, compared to nearly 450,000 three weeks ago, Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder.

"As of Thursday, Oct. 7, 42.6 percent of the total rural (nonmetropolitan) population was completely vaccinated against Covid-19. That’s an increase from two weeks ago of 0.5 percentage points," Murphy and Marema report. "The gap between the rural and metropolitan vaccination rates remained at about 12 percentage points."

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