Fear Porn: Arkansas Covid CASES surge as state combats vax skepticism

Experts say their messaging to minority populations faces challenges, citing the state's Latino populations that often live in more rural areas difficult to reach, have concerns about missing work, or face their own doubts about the vaccine.

Dr. Gloria Richard-Davis, a doctor at UAMS, focuses her work on reaching out to those groups. It's about making the vaccine accessible within the community, she said.

"A lot of celebrities are coming out saying get the vaccine, the average person is not listening to them," she said. "So, we're trying to understand who the everyday influences are for our community and the community health workers are part of that because they live and breathe." so..they've finally caught on that hollywood slebs are poison to average americans. LOLOL

Aside from community members helping to share accurate information(right), the state government is trying to do its part. Governor Asa Hutchinson is in the midst of a tour around Arkansas hosting town halls where he takes questions about the vaccine, and the state health department has released public service announcements featuring former vaccine skeptics speaking about their change of perspective.

Another is ensuring people are able to get time off work to get their vaccines -- a major concern among communities of color, Richard-Davis said.

"We're working with employers to try and get them to allow that time for vaccination or if someone happens to have adverse events that they don't feel like going into work the next day, that there's some flexibility that there's some leeway," Richard-Davis said.

When it comes to the FDA's approval of the current vaccines beyond emergency use authorization, Dr. Robert Hopkins -- a UAMS doctor who also serves as the chair of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee -- said that he is hopeful it could come "fairly soon."

"I know that there's been regular communication between the Pfizer, the Moderna, and the Johnson and Johnson folks, and the FDA," he told CNN. "I think that that would help at least with a part of our population that's been hesitant, to know that this vaccine has full approval."

The outreach seems to be working. At St. Theresa's, Minerva Mendoza brought her 13-year-old daughter Mary Lara to get her vaccine.

"My position on the vaccine is that we can't just sit around and wait to get sick and then regret not getting inoculated," she told CNN. "Right now, it's about everybody pitching in and overcoming any fears about the vaccine so we can pull ourselves out of this pandemic."

"We're working with employers to try and get them to allow that time for vaccination or if someone happens to have adverse events that they don't feel like going into work the next day, that there's some flexibility that there's some leeway," Richard-Davis said.