March 23, 2021
There will be no report on new daily cases today because ADPH said its data dashboard is experiencing technical difficulties that won’t be fixed before tomorrow. Therefore, tomorrow’s report will include new cases from today as well as tomorrow. Over the weekend, there were 373 cases reported on Sunday (collected Saturday) and 319 cases reported on Monday (collected Sunday).
In the last week, an average of 25.3K doses of vaccine per day were administered, a 7% decrease over the week before. Alabama has administered at least one dose to 994,253 people, covering 25.2% of the State’s adult population and 20.3% of the entire population (national average = 25.3%). Approximately 11.2% of the State’s population has now been fully vaccinated, which ranks Alabama ahead of only Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and Utah (national average = 13.0%).
ADPH has updated its map showing the percentage distribution of vaccines within the State, arranged by the county of residence. The latest map reaffirms what I reported last Thursday - namely, that the vaccination rate is highest in rural Black Belt counties with high concentrations of black residents, while the lowest vaccination rates are in mostly rural white counties.
For example, there are only 7 counties where more than 17% of the population is fully vaccinated - Lee (17.96%); Washington (17.93%); Dallas (17.88%); Clarke (17.74%); Wilcox (17.61%); Perry (17.31%); and Hale (17.22%) - every one of them, with the exception of Lee, has a majority black population. On the flip side, there are only 5 counties in which less than 10% of the population is fully vaccinated - Russell (5.59%); Chilton (8.25%); St. Clair (9.67%); Escambia (9.69%); and DeKalb (9.74%) - in every one, whites comprise at least 59% of the population.
In a March 5 poll by Pew Research Center, 69% of the U.S. public said they either have already been vaccinated or intend to be vaccinated, up from 60% in November. Still, that means 30% said they definitely or probably would not become vaccinated. Interestingly, 61% of black Americans said they had already been vaccinated or intend to be vaccinated - up from 42% in November. The least likely group to be vaccinated is Republican men (49%).
It is vital to depoliticize the issue of vaccination because a state like Alabama will never reach herd immunity if half the Republican men are unwilling to get vaccinated. I believe this issue will gradually become less partisan the further out from last November’s election we get. In the meantime, however, if you are newly eligible and seeking an appointment, you might start by checking with providers in rural, predominantly white counties. This is one of those times when profiting from the folly of others is not a sin. The totals:
3/9 - 524
3/10- 782
3/11- 865
3/12- 448
3/13- 594
3/14- 368
3/15- 549 (exclusive of backlog)
3/16- 488
3/17- 558 (exclusive of backlog)
3/18- 572
3/19- 531
3/20- 508
3/21- 373
3/22- 319