Cape County leading state in COVID-19 vaccinations

State officials have added a COVID-19 vaccine dashboard to their online resources regarding the virus, and the numbers show Cape Girardeau County leading the state in vaccinations.

Gov. Mike Parson announced the new dashboard — https://showmestrong.mo.gov/data/public-health/vaccine — Tuesday evening.

Among the data available: overall vaccinations in the state, demographic information about those who have received a vaccine dose and geographic information about vaccine recipients.

At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the information regarding where vaccine recipients live, of Missouri’s 114 counties, Cape Girardeau County has the highest percentage of its residents who have received the first vaccine dose, 10.2%. Scott County ranks second at 8.1%. Perry County reported 5.1%, while Bollinger County reported 4.5% and Stoddard County 4.2%.

“We have been planning for ‘what if’ and ‘when’ scenarios for a number of years now,” said Jane Wernsman, who has directed the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center since 2012.

“Between hospitals, pharmacies, our own health center and approved vaccine providers, we’ve worked hard to say, ‘OK, let’s get the vaccine out but in a coordinated effort,’” she added.

Wernsman said the data used in the statewide COVID dashboard comes from figures manually entered into an online system called “Show Me Vax,” noting every vaccine provider is required to input information.

“We had a clinic going on (Wednesday) at Century Casino (in Cape Girardeau) and as we administered shots, we entered the data in real time into Show Me Vax,” she explained.

An official with the state Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed the numbers represent the percentage of county residents who have received a vaccine dose, no matter where they received it, meaning a Scott County resident may receive a vaccine dose in Cape Girardeau County, but will be counted in Scott County.

“These vaccines are federal,” Wernsman said, “and the guidance we’re getting from the state governs what we do.

“We’re not going to vaccinate those outside the phases/tiers that are currently authorized,” she added, noting as a national inoculation effort, qualifying for the vaccine from a health standpoint is the ultimate concern of Missouri health officials.

“We’ve gotten calls from people outside the county whose local health departments or local health care providers have not begun offering vaccination clinics as we have in Cape Girardeau,” noted Wernsman.

“We’ve also gotten people vaccinated from East Cape (Illinois) who work at Saint Francis Medical Center or SoutheastHEALTH and are employed as health care providers or are providing health care in our county,” she added.

Totals by county

Total vaccine doses by county were: Bollinger, 648 (546 first dose, 102 second dose); Cape Girardeau, 9,755 (8,022 first dose, 1,702 second dose); Perry, 1,126 (967 first dose, 156 second dose); Scott, 3,629 (3,099 first dose, 529 second dose); and Stoddard, 1,342 (1,213 first dose, 129 second dose).

Overall, through Monday, vaccinators in the state had administered 374,742 vaccine doses, and 4.7% of the state’s population have received at least one dose (1.4% have received two doses). Missourians who have received at least one vaccine dose totaled 290,138, while 84,604 have received a second dose. Vaccinators across the state are administering an average of 16,375 doses per day.

Demographics

The dashboard includes vaccination information by age group, gender, race and ethnicity, providing the percentage of the state’s population who have received at least one vaccine dose:

• age group: 15-24, 2.1%; 25-34, 5.8%; 35-44, 6.5%; 45-54, 6.3%; 55-64, 6.4%; 65-74, 6.4%; 75-84, 4.7%; 85-plus, 12.6%
• gender: female, 6.3%; male, 3.1%
• race: American Indian or Alaska native, 0.5%; Asian, 1.4%; Black or African American, 1.5%; multi-racial, 12.2%; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific islander, 6.7%; white, 3.7%
• ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino, 0.6%; not Hispanic or Latino, 4.1%.

Increasing efforts

As more vaccine doses have become available, area vaccinators in the area have scaled up their efforts.

SoutheastHEALTH, one of the state’s pre-selected distribution organizations, has administered more than 8,000 vaccine doses, and Shauna Hoffman, vice president of marketing and business development, said she expects that number to increase to more than 10,000 by early next week. Southeast has operated vaccine clinics in a number of Missouri locations, including Jackson, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Dexter and Perryville.

Saint Francis Healthcare System has administered about 5,000 doses, according to the latest information it has provided.

Broadway LTC Pharmacy has also provided about 4,800 vaccine doses, mostly to residents and staff of long-term care facilities.