After COVID-19 brutally hit the Navajo Nation in the early days of the pandemic, the nation launched an intensive vaccination campaign, reaching a vaccination rate far above the U.S. average. Now, the Navajo are facing yet another surge, and leaders don't know why, The New York Times reported Nov. 2.
The Navajo Nation — with nearly 400,000 members, the largest reservation in the U.S. — had one of the country's worst COVID-19 case rates in the spring of 2020. Now, 70 percent of tribal members are fully inoculated, a significantly higher figure than the nationwide rate of 58 percent.
Indigenous leaders have urged vaccination within their communities, knowing the disproportionate effect COVID-19 has had on Native American people, who now have the highest vaccination rate in the U.S., according to CDC data. However, the Navajo, along with other highly vaccinated tribes, are reporting yet another surge.
Though tribal communities tend to have high vaccination rates, they're affected by surrounding states and communities that may have lower vaccination rates, Indian Health Service officials said Oct. 29. Many tribal members also commute for work to areas that may have a higher exposure risk.
Navajo officials said the latest surge had been less severe than those last winter and in the spring of 2020 because of the high vaccination rates. Recently, the nation has exceeded 100 confirmed daily cases several times. Previously, cases peaked at nearly 400 a day last winter, while dropping to single digits in June and July.
Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation, said some members brought the virus back to the reservation after visiting communities in Arizona and New Mexico that have looser COVID regulations than the tribe. The Navajo have worn masks in public since April 2020, indoors and out.
"We do have multigeneration families living under one roof, and when someone brings COVID home, it spreads quickly in the house," Mr. Nez said, according to the Times.
Pockets of people still continue to resist getting the shots, said Mary Owen, MD, director of the Center for American Indian and Minority Health at Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota's medical school and president of the Association of American Indian Physicians.
"These pockets seem to be greater in the 17- to 45-year-old range," said Dr. Owen, who is a member of the Tlingit nation. "From what I'm hearing and what I'm seeing in our clinic, is that people in this age group have a greater sense of invincibility and also seem to be relying more on social media for their news about the vaccine."