Coronavirus vaccine plan enters Phase 2

As the State of Missouri entered Phase 2 of its COVID-19 vaccination plan Monday, nearly 1 million Missourians became eligible to receive the vaccine.

A release from Gov. Mike Parson indicated 880,000 of the state's residents are now eligible for the vaccine. They include essential workers, the homeless, those working in higher education and "disproportionately affected populations," such as racial and ethnic minorities.

"With nearly 3.9 million adults now eligible in Missouri, we have come a long way since vaccines first arrived in Missouri," Parson said.

The governor has previously announced the state will transition to its final vaccine phase, Phase 3, the general public, April 9.

According to the state Department of Health and Senior Services, 1,505,818 Missourians (24.5% of the state's population; up 2.4 percentage points since last week) had received at least one virus vaccine dose as of Monday. Vaccinators have dispersed 2,340,469 total vaccine doses, and 877,461 residents have completed the vaccine regimen. In the past week, 244,592 vaccine doses have been administered, an average of nearly 35,000 doses per day.

Vaccination rates for several Southeast Missouri counties as of Monday, compared to a week ago:

• Bollinger: 17.2%, up 1.1 percentage points
• Cape Girardeau: 26.7%, up 2.4 percentage points
• Perry: 20%, up 0.8 percentage points
• Scott: 26.2%, up 1.8 percentage points
• Stoddard: 19.6%, up 2.6 percentage points.

Cape Girardeau County's Public Health Center reported Monday the county's testing positivity rate for the past 14 days has been 4.1%. In those 14 days, 40 new virus cases have been identified.

Clinic set today

SoutheastHEALTH has COVID-19 vaccine availability today during a clinic at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. To register, visit www.SEhealth.org/COVID.

Saint Francis Medical Center sponsored a clinic at the hospital Monday.

For more information about upcoming vaccine clinics, visit the state's vaccine navigator, www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator, county health departments' websites/social media channels or local medical care providers.