SURRY, Virginia (AP) – When Charlome Pierce looked for where her 96-year-old father could get a COVID-19 vaccine in January, she found no option near her home in Virginia. The only Surry County medical clinic had none and the last pharmacy in an area with approximately 6,500 residents and more land than Chicago closed years ago.
To get their shots, some residents took a ferry across the vast James River to cities like Williamsburg. Others drove more than an hour past farms and forests (the county got the first traffic light in 2007) to reach a medical center that offered the vaccine.
At one point, Pierce overheard a state vaccination event 45 minutes away, no more appointments were available, which was perhaps the best thing: the wait there could last up to seven hours.
“This would have been a daunting task,” he said, citing his father’s health conditions and the frequent need to use the bathroom. “I could not have sat him in a car and waited for something to happen. We are not in a Third World country. ”
As the national coronavirus campaign moves from mass inoculation sites to pharmacies and medical offices, vaccination remains a challenge for residents of “pharmacy deserts,” communities without pharmacies or well-equipped health clinics. To improve access, ”the federal government has partnered with 21 companies that run independent pharmacies or pharmacy services within grocery stores and elsewhere.
More than 40,000 stores are expected to participate, and the Biden administration has said nearly 90 percent of Americans live within five miles of one, from Hy-Vee and Walmart to Costco and Rite- Aid.
But there are gaps on the map: more than 400 rural counties with a combined population of about 2.5 million people do not have a retail pharmacy included in the association. More than 100 of these counties do not have a pharmacy or have a pharmacy that historically did not offer services such as flu vaccines and possibly does not have certified equipment or staff to vaccinate clients.
Independent pharmacies that have traditionally served rural areas have been disappearing, victims of prescription mail and more competition from chains like Walgreen and CVS with more power to negotiate with insurance companies, according to Keith Mueller, director of the RUPRI Center of the University of Iowa. Analysis of rural health policies.
“There are a lot of counties that would be left out” of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, said Mueller, whose research center collected data from pharmacies in 400 counties. “Particularly in the western states, you have an extensive geography and very few people.”
The challenges of getting a vaccine close to home are not limited to rural areas. According to a study, there is a relative lack of medical facilities in some urban areas, especially for black Americans. published in February by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and the West Health Policy Center.
The study included 69 counties where black residents were much more likely to have to travel more than a mile to reach a potential vaccination site, including a pharmacy, hospital, or federally qualified health center. One-third of these counties were urban, including the home counties of cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, and New Orleans.
In addition, the study identified 94 counties where black residents were significantly more likely than white residents to have to travel more than 10 miles to reach a potential vaccination site. The counties were mostly concentrated in the southeastern United States (Virginia had the highest of any state with 16) and Texas.
The shortage of pharmacies and other medical infrastructure in some of the country’s rural areas highlights the healthcare disparities that have become stronger during the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected members of racial and low-income minority groups. .
The former Surry County Pharmacy, where about 40 percent of residents are black, is now a coffee shop. No one seems to remember exactly when the drug was Surry. Co. closed, but the coffee’s co-owner, Sarah Mayo, remembers going there as a child. Now drive 45 minutes to a Walmart or CVS.
“I don’t know if more people would get the vaccine” if the pharmacy still existed, said Mayo, 62. “But at least you’d have a trusted local person to explain the pros and cons.”
Surry County residents also used to pick up prescriptions at Wakefield Pharmacy in neighboring Sussex County, until it also closed in November. The owner, Russell Alan Garner, wanted to retire and could not find a buyer.
“We’ve become dinosaurs,” Garner said.
In January, Surry County officials saw vaccines arrive in other parts of Virginia that had more people or more cases of coronavirus. Doses of fear may not arrive for months, if ever, state officials began to put pressure on them.
In a letter to the governor’s office, Surry joined surrounding communities to express concern about the “equity” of vaccines, especially for low-income and other disadvantaged poor people. Some of these communities said they had reallocated money to support vaccination.
“The fact of living in a rural community is that everyone is often overlooked, from politicians to agencies,” said county supervisor Michael Drewry.
Surry County Administrator Melissa Rollins wrote to the regional health district stating that driving outside the county was not practical for most residents. He said Surry was willing to sponsor a mass vaccination site, had devised a plan to recruit people who could manage shootings and make sure eligible residents would be prepared.
The first Surry County clinic was held Feb. 6 at the small town high school in Dendron. The school district was inoculating teachers and other staff members when county and district health district staff officials learned of additional doses, prompting a rush to make their voices heard.
Surry already had a waiting list of eligible people through a survey designed to reach vulnerable residents. He used his emergency alert phone system as internet access is scarce.
Pierce received the call and quickly left with his father, Charles Robbins. It was a 20 minute drive to high school and a two hour wait. Pierce, 64, was also shot, along with about 240 other people that day.
Three more vaccination clinics have been held in the county. And the regional health district had administered 1,080 doses there on March 2nd. The number makes up the majority of doses that county residents have received, although several hundred received their shots outside the county.
In all, about 1,800 county residents have received at least one dose. That is, about 28% of the population and almost double the state average rate. About half of the people who have received vaccines are black.
The Virginia Department of Health said vaccine distribution has been based on population and COVID rates. But to move forward, the department said it is considering modifications to ensure more geographical and racial equity.
Pierce and his father were relieved to receive their first shots in late February. But he said Surry’s rural character put him at a disadvantage at first.
“I have close friends, people who are essential workers, who have had to go as far as an hour to get a shot,” he said. “Your zip code should not let you down.”
But driving long distances is a way of life for many people in rural areas, said Bruce Adams, a farmer and commissioner in Utah County San Juan, which is almost the size of New Jersey and overlaps with the Navajo nation.
“I got both shots and had to drive 44 miles back and forth for each to a public health center,” said Adams, 71. “I don’t think it’s more of a problem than anything else we normally do in our lives … go to the doctor, the dentist, cut your hair.”