On a recent night in the tiny West Texas town of Marfa, the pandemic felt almost like a memory.
Locals and tourists gathered around picnic tables outside a hip hotel, sipping Lone Star as a singer鈥檚 quiet melodies and guitar strumming wafted through the cool desert air.
Refreshing as it was, the scene was in some ways a mirage, as health workers across the nation are still to get people vaccinated in their race against new COVID-19 variants.
Though of U.S. adults have now received at least one shot of a vaccine, and the are raising concerns about not enough rural Americans getting vaccinated. In Texas, where the statewide generally mirror the national trend, vaccinations are still lagging in many rural areas.
Still, in Marfa and the surrounding Presidio County, health workers have done a remarkable job getting people vaccinated, especially for a typically underserved borderland region hours away from major hospitals and lacking in some
As of April 23, more than 85% of the 7,000-or-so adults in the county have gotten at least one vaccine shot 鈥� well above the statewide percentage and second only to rural Cochran County in the Texas Panhandle.
So, naturally, locals are loosening up.
鈥淚 am hugging friends when I see them now if they鈥檙e fully vaccinated, grandkids are coming over and visiting and spending the night,鈥� said Marfa resident Pat Meckfessel.
Meckfessel said she鈥檚 been 鈥減retty rigid鈥� with health precautions throughout the pandemic, and even now she鈥檚 still following the Centers for Disease Control鈥檚 and wearing a mask when she鈥檚 in public spaces.
Still, she described a kind of new world she鈥檚 now living in after getting both shots.
鈥淚 would think about going out to eat and sitting outside when I was in Marfa and then I鈥檇 think, well, I really don鈥檛 have to do that, it鈥檚 safer for me to stay home,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut now, I鈥檓 quite willing to go to Al Campo and sit on the patio and meet friends, and it feels nice.鈥�
Health workers say this rural county鈥檚 impressive vaccination numbers are largely thanks to an aggressive push from the beginning.
鈥淲e have a habit of complaining and yelling really loud when we don鈥檛 get anything,鈥� said Don Culbertson, a doctor at the Marfa Country Clinic who鈥檚 been a driving force behind the local vaccine rollout.
Culbertson said local officials were quick to ask the state for help when vaccine supplies first arrived in Texas, knowing the region might get left in the dust otherwise.
鈥淚 think our voices were raised ahead of time saying, 鈥楬i, we need vaccines down here,鈥欌�� he said.
Addressing the obvious, Culbertson said it鈥檚 probably easier in general to vaccinate thousands of people than it is to vaccinate millions in a place like Houston. Still, he said, Presidio County鈥檚 remoteness did make it hard to reach some older people who don鈥檛 have reliable internet or aren鈥檛 that computer literate.
On the flip side, the everyone-knows-everyone nature of the county鈥檚 small towns made his job easier. His staff could simply sit down and say: 鈥淲ho do we know that needs a shot?鈥�
鈥淚n rural communities, there are often much stronger social ties,鈥� said Valerie Smith, a physician in East Texas who sits on a for the trade group Texas Medical Association.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e seen are some communities where you can literally go to the mayor or to the person who directs the public health district, and they could tell you immediately, 鈥極h, these are the high-risk people in our community,鈥欌�� she said.
Various other cultural factors have likely played in Presidio County鈥檚 high vaccination rate as well. In a place where people are used to driving long distances for simple errands, many, including Pat Meckfessel in Marfa, had no problem driving two or three hours to get a shot.
鈥淒idn鈥檛 mind the drive and I just, you know, wanted to get this thing rolling,鈥� Meckfesel said.
For months now, hospitals in the bigger cities of West Texas like Midland and Odessa have served as de-facto for the entire region, making the shots more accessible than they would otherwise be to far-flung towns like Marfa and Presidio. Those hospitals have even some of their own supply to smaller hospitals and clinics scattered across the region.
Plus, according to Culbertson, Presidio County frankly just got lucky when it comes to people actually wanting the shots.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do any work about promotion or any evangelical work about how important it is,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were extremely fortunate with that.鈥�
Still, that experience has not been the case across the entirety of West Texas, in large part just because of how different the region鈥檚 politics and cultures are from community to community, factors that affect how people view vaccines.
鈥淓l Paso is definitely a more vaccine friendly, or ready, community than the Permian Basin,鈥� said Rachel Sonne, Regional Medical Director for the Texas health department鈥檚
Sonne said even with Presidio County鈥檚 success so far, there are still challenges ahead. The entire West Texas region, even Presidio County, is seeing the same kind of drop in vaccine demand that鈥檚 happening nationwide, she said.
Sonne and her colleagues are now focused on working with communities at the hyper-local level to convince people to get the shots.
鈥淭he idea is we鈥檒l get some people vaccinated, and then those people are going to go home and not grow a third ear, not become sterile,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t takes time, and it takes the components of community.鈥�
President Biden, meanwhile, has committed to ramping up vaccine availability in rural areas, along with low-income areas and in communities of color, part of the administration鈥檚 broader in rural America
