It really has. I was just reading some things friends wrote in March/April where they didn't expect anything like this until 2022.

I'm really sad that the message hasn't been clearer about how all the experimentation has already been done! The vaccine trials were done quickly, yes, but just as rigorously as ever. I don't blame Native people especially for being wary of the U.S. government, but in this case it's a shame. It's something the article mentions too, so it sounds like the people getting the vaccine distributed know that the logistics isn't the only problem they're facing, there are these issues too.

It might help mistrustful people to hear that Trump did want to get White House staff vaccinated first and they're bound to be all white folks! (Though he's gone back on this plan since, like he does all of his plans.)

Yes I'm finding myself being judgmental of people even in novels for doing things like visiting people or going on trains, so thoroughly have I apparently internalized that these are dangerous and anti-social things to do! I look forward to losing that instinctual response.

I was wondering about that myself! I don't know what other states, if any, are prioritizing Native populations in the vaccine distributions. I do get the impression I'm from somewhere particularly contentious about this (if about 200 years too late...) but that could just mean I've fallen for local propaganda from fellow white people. :)

What I read about Minnesota didn't mention whether this was or wasn't happening in other places (except the entity coordinating this also serves Wisconsin and Michigan so maybe it'll be able to get indigenous people there vaccinated too? Does it matter that Wisconsin's govarnor is a shithead when it comes to covid (and, everything, but particularly covid)? Or is the tribal-nations infrastructure sufficiently separate that people who've been around here lot longer than the concept of "Wisconsin" has don't need to worry about things like that? I really don't know.