The Atlantic The more the state collaborates with those at the local, community level, the greater the vaccine uptake. February 8, 2021 Professor at the West Virginia University School of Public Health Members of a coronavirus vaccine task force met in a command center in Charleston, West Virginia.Kristian Thacker / The New York Times / Redux As a physician focused on public health in West Virginia, I am accustomed to our state scoring low in all national measures of health. We have high rates of obesity, chronic diseases, and fatal opioid overdoses. Now, however, we are leading in the country’s most important health initiative: We are one of the states with the highest per capita distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, just behind Alaska.