The coronavirus vaccines have been rolled out unevenly across the US, but four states in the Deep South have had particularly dismal inoculation rates that have alarmed health experts and frustrated residents, AP reports.

In Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina, less than two per cent of the population received its first dose of a vaccine at the start of the week, according to data from the states and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

As in other parts of the country, states in the south face a number of challenges: limited vaccine supplies, health care workers who refuse to get inoculated and bureaucratic systems that are not equipped to schedule the huge number of appointments being sought.