Contrary to fairness! Uneven distribution of vaccines in the U.S. triggers tensions between rural and urban areas

　　China News Service, March 2nd. According to the U.S. Overseas Chinese News Network, at present, from Oregon to Tennessee, and to northern New York, people are complaining about the unfair distribution of vaccines. Vaccination in the United States has further aggravated the rural and urban problems Tension.

On February 16, local time, the mass vaccination station set up at Oakland Stadium, California, was opened to eligible people.

This vaccination station will provide 6000 doses of vaccine every day.

Recently, many well-known stadiums in the United States have been transformed into vaccination stations to accelerate the speed of COVID-19 vaccination.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan

　　According to reports, due to the large number of health care workers in Nashville, 74-year-old Rita Fentress is not eligible for vaccination.

A neighbor told her that rural counties near the state can already vaccinate young people, and Fentris finally got an appointment for a vaccine 60 miles away.

So she traveled along a forest road in rural Tennessee to the COVID-19 vaccination sites in other areas.

　　She said: "I feel a little guilty, maybe my vaccine should have belonged to someone else in this county."

　　The report pointed out that in some cases, mutual accusations of vaccine distribution were partisan. Republican lawmakers in rural areas of Democratic-led states complained that they were "picking winners and losers", while urban residents would spend hours. Go to those rural areas that tend to be Republican to get vaccinated.

　　In Oregon, state Republican lawmakers left the legislature last week because of the Democratic governor’s vaccine plan. One of their concerns is the distribution of vaccines in the countryside.

　　In northern New York, public health officials in rural counties complained about the uneven distribution of vaccines, while in North Carolina, rural lawmakers said that too many vaccine centers were being distributed in large cities.

　　In Tennessee, Missouri, and Alabama, due to the large number of health care workers in urban areas, elderly people have to scramble to book vaccines in areas a few hours away from home.

Therefore, the result may be completely opposite to the requirement of "fairness". On the contrary, those who have the most channels and means are most likely to be vaccinated.

　　Senior scholar Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health and Safety said: "This is really, absolutely flawed." He pointed out that there are even "vaccine hunters" who will try to find vaccines for money.

　　The current distribution method of vaccines in the United States is that the US federal government issues general guidelines, and each state decides on its own how to distribute vaccines fairly and spread them to vulnerable groups.

　　The states face many challenges.

Rural counties are unlikely to have the deep-freezing equipment needed to store Pfizer vaccines, and health care workers tend to be concentrated in large cities.

According to a public opinion survey, in many states, rural counties have been hit hard by the epidemic, but residents in these areas are also the least willing to be vaccinated.

　　In Missouri, there have been posts on social media about the availability of vaccine appointments in rural areas.

The state's Senate minority leader and Democrat John Rizzo said it is necessary to spread more vaccines to urban areas.

This proposal caused an angry rebuke from Republican Gov. Parson, who said that the distribution of vaccines is proportional to the population.

　　In Republican-led Tennessee, the government revealed last week that Shelby County had wasted about 2,400 vaccine doses in the past month due to communication errors and inadequate record keeping, and nearly 30,000 overdose doses were stockpiled in its inventory. .

This situation caused an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the director of the county health bureau resigned.

　　In Nashville, Democratic Mayor John Cooper said that it is a positive phenomenon that city residents can get injections elsewhere. He said: "I am grateful that other counties have not refused to vaccinate them."