(L) Central Meadville, MS; (R) Mark Thornton, Franklin County emergency management director, at the courthouse in Meadville, Mississippi, on March 19, 2021. Photos: Annie Flanagan for Elemental

Inside One of America’s Vaccine Deserts

How rural areas could affect our Covid-19 immunity

Along a winding roadway festooned with lanky longleaf pines, a sign welcomes you to Meadville, Mississippi, population 519.

“Oh, we’re bigger than that,” says Cynthia Ann Wilkinson, a Mississippi State Extension agent, to the journalist who mentioned the sign in passing. Her co-worker…