Micheal Clements, NAFB News Service

The National Grange wants the Food and Drug Administration to consider “any and all” delivery options of a COVID-19 vaccine for rural Americans and farmworkers. In a letter to the FDA, the organization says, “we believe that innovative options such an oral vaccine in pill form should be pursued.” The organization suggested mail delivery of vaccines to rural Americans to ensure quick and easy access once a vaccine is available. Rural America faces a shortage of healthcare providers, as the organization cites a national study reported in 2019. The study found that there are only 12 doctors per 10,000 people in rural America versus more than twice that number, 29.6 per 10,000, in urban areas. Moreover, the study forecast a 23 percent decline in the number of rural physicians over the next decade as current doctors retire. According to the organization, those statistics, coupled with the fact that over 100 rural hospitals have closed in the last decade, further complicate the health care access situation in rural America.