Media Coverage

Since December, about 31 million doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in the US. President Biden has committed to distributing 150 million more doses within his first 100 days in office, but new cases continue to mount. January was the deadliest month of the pandemic so far, as scientists say two new, potentially more deadly strains of the virus emerged. As states move to vaccinate people as quickly as they can, early data suggests stark racial disparities in who is getting the vaccine. Coronavirus ravaged low-income, Black, Latinx, and indigenous communities throughout 2020, but in many states, vaccines are going to wealthier, white patients.

Across the Midwest, the rollout of COVID vaccines has been spotty. Lots of people are having a trouble with online signups. And vaccine demand far exceeds supply. That’s made the process challenging, especially in rural areas. For years, the Girls State Training School in central Iowa has sat mostly empty. But on this day, the main building is buzzing as a local vaccination clinic opens. Rooms labeled for social workers, psychologists and others who once helped delinquent girls are filled with health care workers and elderly residents from the rural area. "It's zooming today. We've noticed that despite our best efforts to say come at your scheduled time, people are coming 10, 15 minutes early," says Shannon Zoffka, executive director of the Tama County Public Health Department.

An ongoing study led by North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University focuses on assessing the mental, emotional and physical health of undergraduates during the pandemic – in order to determine how universities can better support their students. The study involves students at NC State, North Carolina A&T State University, University of Iowa, and Duke University. “The pandemic is making us evaluate and reinvent the college experience, at least temporarily,” says Julie Ivy, principal investigator (PI) of the study. “For example, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of social connection. How we can facilitate social connection when every course is online?

Across the Midwest, the rollout of COVID vaccines has been spotty. Lots of people are having a trouble with online signups. And vaccine demand far exceeds supply. That’s made the process challenging, especially in rural areas. For years, the Girls State Training School in central Iowa has sat mostly empty. But on this day, the main building is buzzing as a local vaccination clinic opens. Rooms labeled for social workers, psychologists and others who once helped delinquent girls are filled with health care workers and elderly residents from the rural area. “It’s zooming today. We’ve noticed that despite our best efforts to say come at your scheduled time, people are coming 10, 15 minutes early,” says Shannon Zoffka, executive director of the Tama County Public Health Department.

Zoffka says the clinic scheduled 110 people for their first doses. They were selected from a waiting list her department started last month.

On a recent Saturday morning, Peggy Hoon got behind the wheel of her 2011 Toyota RAV4 and made the 300-mile round trip to Charlotte from her Raleigh home. After weeks of waiting on hold or hearing about COVID-19 vaccination events only after they'd filled up, the 65-year-old Wake County resident finally got a shot. She considers herself lucky and worries about equity issues that leave other seniors unable to find doses of the precious vaccine. State officials say the primary barrier to rolling out the vaccines has been a lack of supply. But the N.C. Watchdog Reporting Network found that in some cases, health workers are giving doses to people who do not yet qualify, according to guidelines from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.