U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., embarked Tuesday on a three-day, multicity tour to encourage covid-19 immunizations in the state and to determine other ways the federal government might be able to help with low vaccine acceptance.
Early in the vaccine rollout, Arkansas fared relatively well nationally in terms of the number of people receiving shots; however, in recent weeks, supply has begun to far outstrip demand as the number of Arkansans willing to be immunized has dramatically waned.
Pharmacists have reported problems filling appointment slots and, in some instances, said they have so much extra vaccine that there is no need to place orders for more for a couple of weeks.
Billed as the "Shots in ARms" tour, Boozman began Tuesday morning at the Arkansas Department of Health, where he met with state Health Secretary Dr. Jose Romero to discuss how federal dollars and other forms of assistance could support efforts to increase inoculation rates.
About 14%, or 420,000, of the state's roughly 3 million residents had been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to national vaccine data that is tracked by The New York Times. That puts Arkansas nearly at the bottom of the list compared with fully vaccinated populations in other states.
"The idea is to make sure that the federal component is doing what it needs to do to be helpful," Boozman said during a joint news conference with Romero after their meeting at the Health Department.
"Arkansas has several different regions -- some of them more populated, others not so populated. It is not one size fits all," the senator said. "We are trying to develop a strategy where you can get everybody taken care of, so that is what we talked about, how we can be helpful in that regard."
Boozman said federal covid-19 relief money will help support the state Department of Health with logistics surrounding vaccine delivery as well as education efforts to encourage vaccinations.
"The good news is that the federal dollars are flowing," Boozman said. "There is lots in the pipeline in the future, and a lot of that is for public health and fighting the covid battle."
Romero said that knowing the "money is in the pipeline" will help address issues with delivery and reaching broader swaths of the population.
"We know this is coming, so that allows us to plan for the future, to begin to talk about how we are going to address the vaccine delivery into the future," the health secretary said. "Right now, we have reached a lot of the population, and that is sort of the low-hanging fruit."
Romero added: "We now have to educate and need to reach into populations and convince others that this vaccine is necessary, so we need the manpower to do that. We need to continue to have vaccinators, so that is what this funding is going to provide us."
Boozman and Romero said they believe that politicization of the vaccines is not the main issue with slowing rates of inoculation in Arkansas.
A poll released earlier in March from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that of those who reported they would not receive coronavirus vaccinations, almost 50% were Republican men.
"There are some political reasons, certainly there are, but why does everybody not get a flu shot? It is the same reason. Maybe they had a bad experience 30 years ago," Boozman said.
"I have talked to very well educated people, people not so educated, just every factor of society in Arkansas, and there are various people among all of those groups for different reasons, they simply are waiting," the senator said.
Romero said he believes that as covid-19 infection rates have decreased in the state, residents have simultaneously felt less urgency in getting shots.
"I don't think the politicization of this vaccine is a major issue in our state," the health secretary said. "I think the issue is complacency or the fact that everyone sees that the virus is not causing a huge problem at this point, so there is no sense of urgency to receive a vaccine."
"As I discussed with the senator in the past, we want to get vaccinated now before we have a surge, before we have more problems," Romero said. "We have to be prepared."
Boozman said he supported Gov. Asa Hutchinson's move to end the statewide mask mandate. That decision has been frowned upon by the White House, with President Joe Biden pleading with states to continue mask mandates as the country moves closer to herd immunity.
"The governor is very attuned to what is going on in the state," Boozman said. "There are lots of things to be weighed, so I would trust his judgment in that regard. He has done an excellent job of handling [the pandemic]."
After his visit to the Arkansas Department of Health, Boozman met with administrators at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, where he also toured a dedicated space on the campus for public vaccinations.
The senator will visit vaccine clinics in Pine Bluff and Little Rock today and has stops Thursday in Conway, Russellville, Fort Smith and Springdale.
"I want to hear from everybody," Boozman said. "We have heard from the people who are running the programs at the very top. I want to hear some of the problems we are having on the front lines, to hear firsthand from them."
"They are in a better position to help us understand some of the hesitancy that they are seeing," the senator said. "These are the people who deal with these patients every day, so I think there is a lot of information to be learned from them."