The Threat of an Unvaccinated South

Frank Scott unbuttoned his shirt, rolled up the exposed white T-shirt sleeve beneath, and prepared to get the jab. On March 12, Scott, the mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas, was sitting in a wooden chair in the Express Rx pharmacy surrounded by cameras in an effort to help ease his constituents’ fears about the COVID-19 vaccine. Scott has never been a fan of getting shots—and had never had a flu shot before—but this one was different. He’s lost loved ones to the coronavirus; hundreds have died in his city. Almost as soon as his shot began, it was over. It was a year to the day since Scott had