US fight against Covid threatened by growing vaccine gap in the south

Less than 50% of adults in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine

In the United States, to bring about a long-awaited end to the Covid-19 pandemic, federal and state health officials have been urging all Americans to get vaccinated. But, amid stagnating national vaccine rates, some states in the south have been lagging behind when it comes to vaccinating their populations, raising fears of deepening regional disparities.

That raises the prospect that for a complex web of reasons much of the southern US will continue to experience the pandemic in a different way than the rest of America. That is especially worrisome as the south contains more communities that are more vulnerable to the virus.