Austin Fast

Austin Fast is the inaugural Roy W. Howard Fellow on NPR's investigations team.

Before coming to NPR, Fast reported for KJZZ in Phoenix and covered the world's largest wild salmon fishery at KDLG in Dillingham, Alaska. He's also written breaking news at a Cincinnati TV station and taught English overseas with the Peace Corps.

Fast holds a master's degree in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and bachelor's degrees in journalism and international studies from Miami University (Ohio).

Lagging Vaccination Rates Among Rural Seniors Hint At Brewing Rural-Urban Divide

By Austin Fast • Apr 20, 2021

Chris Reimer had never heard of Leopold, Mo., when he found himself rushing down a winding, two-lane road toward the rural, 65-person community in February.

Reimer, a social media manager in St. Louis, had made a split-second decision when he saw a local television reporter tweet about a 2,000-dose COVID-19 vaccination clinic opening to anyone after 3 p.m. that day.

The Capitol Siege: The Arrested And Their Stories

By Tom Dreisbach, Dina Temple-Raston, Arezou Rezvani, Monika Evstatieva, Meg Anderson, Barbara Van Woerkom, Austin Fast & Connie Hanzhang Jin • Feb 9, 2021

Updated April 30, 2021 at 11:11 AM ET

Editor's note: This story was first published on Feb. 9, 2021. It is regularly updated, and includes explicit language.