Rural folks and not getting vaccinated 👩🏻‍🌾💉

For many people it’s hard to see the value of getting vaccinated if you don’t know anyone else who has gotten COVID-19 except maybe on the television. It seems unnecessary and unnatural to inject chemicals into one’s body for a low risk threat especially in rural areas when you are young and healthy.

But the flip side is that millions of people have gotten vaccinated and while the side effects aren’t pleasant the next day, the vaccine is quite effective and now widely available. So many people have use it so we know there are few health consequences at least in the short-term and in the long run its unlikely based on the science to cause harm.

A lot of people, especially seniors have gotten vaccinated. Some haven’t. Some have because getting sick for an extended period could be devastating especially on the family farm if everybody is sick. But that’s their choice. I expect more will get vaccinated come the autumn as COVID-19 becomes more common with the colder weather and holiday travel, and the virus seeks out rural areas with fewer vaccines individuals. Hopefully rural health departments will respond with additional immunization fairs like at town highway garages, senior centers and other community gathering places so that anybody who decides to get vaccinated will be able to easily.