Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics
Jan Hoffman of The New York Times reports that residents in the rural town of Greenville, Tennessee, are hesitant to get the Covid-19 vaccination. She writes, “That view is bolstered by a religious, near-joyous fatalism. People say that if they haven’t caught Covid a year into the pandemic, they will take their chances. True, they might get Covid and die. But either way, a win-win: longer life on Earth or, for the faithful, eternal life in Heaven.” Some pastors are reluctant to use their influence to encourage vaccination. “There are many who have been vaccinated, like Mr. Smith at Tusculum Baptist, but won’t use the pulpit to support it. He doesn’t want to risk alienating anyone, he explained, at a time when he hopes people will return to the church itself to worship.”