Why Alabama has the worst Covid-19 vaccination rates

In the states race to administer Covid-19 vaccines to residents, Alabama has always followed the pack.

Alabama administered 10,013 doses per 100,000 people as of Tuesday, the lowest rate among states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, it had one of the highest rates in the United States for positive coronavirus tests over the past month at 29.1%, based on data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Several factors are at play, according to health officials and specialists. Alabama’s public health system has been exhausted by years of poor funding, leaving some counties with poor or no health services. Administrative and technological issues, including inadequate appointment schedules and outdated software, hampered the effort.

The Alabama telephone hotline for vaccine appointments initially failed, with insufficient lines to handle demand, said Dr. Karen Landers, a district physician for the Alabama Department of Public Health. . A dating website only went live last week. Last month, a booking issue led people to show up for scheduled appointments at a vaccination event in the Birmingham area, only to find that she was listed in error and no one was the.

Much of Alabama’s population lives in rural areas with limited health services. Since 2009, seven rural hospitals have closed in the state, part of a wider wave of closures driven by factors such as population loss and poverty among patient populations, according to Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services at the University of North Carolina.