GOP governor's vaccination tour reveals depths of distrust
TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) â Free lottery tickets for those who get vaccinated had few takers. Free hunting and fishing licenses didn't change many minds either. And this being red-state Arkansas, mandatory vaccinations are off the table.
So Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has hit the road, meeting face-to-face with residents to try to overcome vaccine hesitancy â in many cases, hostility â in Arkansas, which has the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. but is near the very bottom in dispensing shots.
He is meeting with residents like Harvey Woods, who was among five dozen people who gathered at a convention center ballroom in Texarkana on Thursday night. Most of the audience wasn't masked, and neither was Hutchinson, who has been vaccinated.