Navajo Nation among those testing for virus vaccine

    

This a national park not far from the Navajo Nation; the Navajo area looks similar

    While the leaders, and hope-to-be leaders of the United States discuss the current pandemic every day and show angst about finding a safe vaccine, there is a population in northern Arizona who is part of the vaccine testing process.

    The people of the Navajo Nation are in Stage 3 tests for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a Sept. 12 Associated Press report.

    We drove through the Navajo Nation in September and stopped once to take a break. I walked into a roadside store and glanced at the Navajo newspaper on display, gasping at the headline: Navajo volunteers would soon start testing for the COVID-19 vaccine. 

    The clerk look curiously at me, and I said, "Ohmigoodness! You folks are doing the testing?" I hoped the volunteers based their decision on science, I told the clerk, and not politicians who are outspoken on the topic.

    According to the Associated Press, the tests on these volunteers came after the Navajo Nation had some of the highest virus rates in the United States, The Nation, which is in parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, had 9,952 confirmed cases and 530 deaths since the virus was first detected. September 8 was the first date no cases were reported.

    We traveled through Navajo Nation twice. The 27,000 square miles of land are largely desert-like, with homes mostly found near the towns.

    Not many ranches, or farms, are visible from the highways. I could see the soil was nothing like what we have in Iowa; it is quite sandy. I'm sure it's a struggle to make a living from growing anything here.

    Indeed, according to the Nation's Department of Economic Development, some 43 percent of its residents live below the federal poverty level. There are 56 percent of residents who have high school diplomas, while 7 percent have earned college degrees. The average age is 24 years old.

    The nation's funding comes from mining, taxes and tourism. There are several monuments (ie: Valley of the Gods) in the area but all are closed because of the virus.

    I hope the Navajos are paid volunteers in the vaccine tests. That would be fair. Reasons cited in an Arizona Republic newspaper story are that the tests are being done because of the unusual toll it has taken in the Navajo Nation. The trials are being conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health.

    Many people know about Navajos, possibly through the Code Talkers -- those who served during World War II and helped save many American lives. Code Talkers spoke in the native Dine language which the opposition never understood. It is said the Code Talkers made it possible for the U.S. Marines to take Iwo Jima.  

    Today, healthy Navajos are being tested for a possible COVID-19 vaccine. That, too, will help the rest of us.