Low vaccine rate highlights Wyoming conservative streak

GILLETTE, WYO. » As her beloved grandmother’s health declined, Lauren Pfenning’s family insisted that she get a COVID-19 vaccine before paying her a final visit.

She spent over a week researching vaccines on the internet and anguished over the decision during and after 12-hour shifts at her job hauling coal in an openpit mine near Gillette, Wyoming. Her grandmother died earlier this month before she made a decision, but Pfenning stands by her choice to not get vaccinated.

Pfenning embodies the fiercely independent, deeply conservative Wyoming way of life that has defined the state’s response to the pandemic and made it the second-least vaccinated state as of Tuesday, behind only West Virginia. Only 23% of residents in her county have been vaccinated, putting it among the bottom handful of places in America that have not cracked 25% with their COVID-19 immunization rates.

The situation in Gillette is emblematic of the livefree, mind-your-own-business mentality toward the pandemic that is dominant across conservative America at a time when the delta variant is tearing through unvaccinated communities.

For every 100 people spotted around town in Gillette, the number wearing masks can be counted on one hand. Among a group of six people on a smoke break downtown, all said they had too many concerns about the vaccine to mess with it. Down the street, a black shirt displayed in a storefront warned, “ATTENTION SNOWFLAKES: THIS IS NOT A SAFE PLACE.”

People bristle at the workplace vaccine mandate being pushed by President Joe Biden. When asked about workplace mandates and the option to bypass the requirement with regular virus testing, Pfenning’s immediate response: “Test away!”

Anger over presidential meddling in Wyoming’s affairs is dominant across the state, but in Gillette, it gets personal.

The area’s vast coal industry has suffered a decade of decline amid competition from renewable energy and inexpensive natural gas, and coal regulations imposed by President Barack Obama — and lifted by President Donald Trump — have provoked fury among residents.

“It just feels like one attack after another. I think we’re just wanting to fight back harder at this point. Wyoming as a whole is just sick of being pushed around,” said Pfenning.

All the while, COVID-19 patients have been filling several of Wyoming’s hospitals including the one in Gillette, the state’s thirdlargest city.