KALISPELL, Mont. 鈥 The covid vaccination operation at the Flathead County fairgrounds can dole out 1,000 doses in seven hours. But demand has plummeted recently, down to fewer than 70 requests for the shots a day.
So, at the start of May, the northwestern Montana county dropped its mass vaccination offerings from three to two clinics a week. Though most of those eligible in the county haven鈥檛 yet gotten a dose, during the final Thursday clinic on April 29, few cars pulled up and nurses had time to chat between patients.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a trickle,鈥 said Flathead City-County Health Officer Joe Russell. 鈥淣ot enough people will get vaccinated to reach herd immunity, not in Flathead County and maybe not in Montana.鈥
Daily covid vaccination rates are falling nationwide. Gaps in vaccine uptake are starting to show, especially in rural America. That leaves many communities grappling with an imperfect pandemic endgame.
Flathead stands out as one of Montana鈥檚 most populated counties to fall behind. There, 25% of people had been fully vaccinated by May 10. To compare, nearly 33% of Montanans were fully vaccinated, and that figure is nationwide.
Flathead County is a medical destination for the top corner of the state, a gateway to Glacier National Park and neighbor to two tribal nations. It鈥檚 Montana鈥檚 fourth-largest county by population with more than 103,000 people, yet it鈥檚 rural 鈥 per square mile. It鈥檚 also conservative, with the majority of residents voting for former President Donald Trump last year. National polling has shown rural Americans and Republicans to be to getting vaccines.
Russell said he hopes at least 40% of Flathead County residents eventually get the shots. That鈥檚 well below the 70% to 80% believed to be needed to create widespread protection from the pathogen that has stalled normal life.
Public health experts worry about reservoirs of the virus fueling outbreaks. That possibility further strains year-old tensions in places such as Flathead County, where strangers and family members alike can be split on whether the virus is a threat and the decision to wear a mask marks where people stand. Covid vaccines are the latest phase of that divide.
Cameron Gibbons, who lives outside Kalispell, has worried about how covid could affect her 13-year-old son. He鈥檚 had coughs turn into lung infections that landed him in the emergency room for trouble breathing, so the family has played it safe during the pandemic.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 seen family in a long time because they haven鈥檛 chosen to be careful, which is OK, as long as when we get back to normal we can all set our differences aside,鈥 Gibbons said. 鈥淣ow there鈥檚 this judgment of 鈥極h, you got the vaccine.鈥欌
Some of Montana鈥檚 most vaccinated places overlap with tribal nations. Chelsea Kleinmeyer, the health director of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said the tribes鈥 members seemed to largely accept vaccines after the pandemic disproportionately sickened and killed Native Americans. But the reservation crosses four counties, including Flathead.
鈥淲e travel to those counties every single day,鈥 Kleinmeyer said. 鈥淚t goes back to: Are we really protected against this virus, these variants, if we don鈥檛 achieve herd immunity?鈥
States are shifting from mass clinics to bringing shots to where people are, but that strategy, too, can be unpredictable. The same day of the county鈥檚 final Thursday clinic, the local health system hosted a walk-in clinic in the middle of the Flathead Valley Community College campus in Kalispell. Most of the chairs for people to wait 15 minutes post-shot remained empty and, by early afternoon, the clinic had to send 200 doses to the county health department to avoid wastage.
Although organizers had hoped to vaccinate at least 100 people that day, Audra Saranto, a registered nurse who heads Kalispell Regional Healthcare鈥檚 vaccination team, said she counts the college event as a success 鈥 50 people got vaccines who might otherwise not have.
The health system may host similar clinics at major job sites, like for a lumber company. A mobile team will offer shots in busy places like farmers markets, even if it means risking people not following up for a second dose.
It鈥檚 not surprising that covid vaccinations aren鈥檛 universally accepted yet in this divided county. Flathead鈥檚 board of health over mask rules and crowd size limits amid the area鈥檚 worst covid outbreaks. Two top county health officials resigned in the past year. Thousands of people have signed dueling petitions to remove or keep one board of health member who had stirred doubt over covid-19 cases and opposed mask rules.
And the city of Kalispell is home to state Sen. Keith Regier, a Republican who repeated on that covid vaccines may contain microchips to track people. Regier said in an interview he was 鈥渙ffering caution in how we progress with this vaccination.鈥
Meanwhile, Whitefish, roughly a 20-minute drive from Kalispell, has maintained a mask ordinance that has outlasted the statewide mandate. Banners downtown show local leaders asking people to mask up so people can pray together and keep schools open. Even so, the rule isn鈥檛 always followed there.
At the county鈥檚 final Thursday clinic, John Calhoun, 67, undid his pearl snap shirt to get his second shot and joked with the nurse, 鈥淚鈥檓 doing this so Joe Biden doesn鈥檛 throw me in jail.鈥
Calhoun said he hopes being vaccinated will help him ease tensions the next time someone tells him to wear a mask. He believes covid-19 is real but doesn鈥檛 think it鈥檚 as serious as health officials claim, even though he has diabetes, a risk factor for covid complications.
鈥淣othing seems to bother me all that bad,鈥 Calhoun said. 鈥淚 had a horse fall on me, broke my hip, and once stabbed myself with a hunting knife. All that caused me a bit of a problem, but other stuff just doesn鈥檛 bother me.鈥
He decided to get the shot after an old high school friend with a degree in biochemistry told him it was important 鈥 an opinion Calhoun trusted over those of government-paid experts and liberal politicians who he said have used the pandemic to grab more power.
Calhoun said he鈥檚 still trying to talk his wife, Lola, into getting vaccinated to play it safe: 鈥淪he鈥檚 one of those ladies that you don鈥檛 talk her into much.鈥
Lola Calhoun, 59, said she got her shingles vaccine within the past year because she trusts the protection it offers. When it comes to covid, she said she鈥檇 rather risk the virus than be injected with vaccines that feel too new, despite decades of research underpinning their unprecedented development.
鈥淭he covid vaccine to me is experimental and we are the case studies,鈥 she said. 鈥淢aybe a year from now, I鈥檒l see what happens to these people who got the vaccine.鈥
On a recent evening, Ray Sederdahl, 63, sat on his girlfriend鈥檚 Kalispell porch while his grandkids picked dandelions. The Air Force veteran said even if he wasn鈥檛 skeptical of the vaccines, he thinks of covid as an illness that鈥檚 much like the flu.
鈥淭he VA keeps trying to get me to schedule an appointment and I just say, 鈥楢t this time, I鈥檒l pass,鈥欌 Sederdahl said. 鈥淎 lot of the older vets I talk to, they didn鈥檛 get it either, and they鈥檙e not gonna get it.鈥
To Sederdahl, things feel normal enough. Businesses are open and he doesn鈥檛 have to wear a mask most places.
Erica Lengacher, an intensive care unit nurse in Kalispell who has worked covid units and vaccine clinics, said she鈥檚 sad but not surprised that vaccine rates are slowing. But, she said, the overall feeling at the county鈥檚 vaccine clinics is hopefulness 鈥 people are still showing up, even if the crowds are smaller.
Lengacher said Flathead was hit so hard this winter, she hopes some natural immunity from those already infected, along with the growing vaccination levels, will be enough to hold off further outbreaks over the next few months.
鈥淛ust given our lifestyle 鈥 single-family homes, no public transportation, a few people per square mile 鈥 we may get away with it,鈥 Lengacher said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 a big question mark of how variants show up here. There are just a lot of big question marks.鈥
As of May 10, the county had 116 confirmed active cases of covid, up from 71 on April 23.