More than 1M receive one dose of COVID vaccine

More than 1 million Missourians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the state Department of Health and Senior Services.

Data updated Monday showed 1,008,824 of the state's residents have received at least one vaccine dose, while 530,264 Missourians have completed the two-shot vaccination process. Those numbers equate to about 16% of the state's population having begun the vaccination process, and 8.6% having completed it.

The number of completed vaccinations is now a larger amount than the current total COVID-19 case count for the state that began a year ago, which is 520,678 cases as of Monday.

In the past seven days, 217,507 vaccine doses have been given across the state, an average of 30,072 per day.

Nearly half the state's population 85 and older (51.2%) have received at least one vaccine dose. For those ages 75 to 84, the percentage is 37.1%, and for those ages 65 to 74, 47.1% have had at least one vaccine dose.

About 20% of the population in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties have received at least one vaccine dose, ranking the two counties 13th and 14th in the state. Atchison County has the highest percentage of its population having received at least one vaccine dose, 23.1%.

Percentage of population having received at least one vaccine dose and number of doses administered in past seven days for area Missouri counties as of Monday were:

• Bollinger — 14.2%, 491
• Cape Girardeau — 20.2%, 2,450
• Perry — 14.8%, 338
• Scott — 20.2%, 1,184
• Stoddard — 13.6%, 765

Only 6% of Pulaski County's population has received a vaccine dose.

Cape County

The latest COVID cases in Cape Girardeau County has increased by three since the last report from the Public Health Center. It is also reported there are 13 active cases.

There are nine patients in COVID units, four of which are on ventilators, at Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital. The region as a whole has 22% medical bed availability and 39% ICU availability, according to the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center's report Monday.

Clinic

Saint Francis Healthcare System will hold a COVID-19 vaccination clinic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. An appointment is required, and people must be eligible for the vaccine under Phase 1, Tiers 1 and 2. Appointments may be made by calling (573) 381-5958 or through www.SFMC.net/vaccine.

Those under Phase 1, Tier 3, such as employees in education, child care and government, among others, will be eligible for a vaccination in Missouri on March 15. Phase groups are listed at www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/info-graphic-alt/vaccine-availability.html.