Nearly half of 18-plus residents have ‘completed vaccination’

A little more than half of Perry County’s voting eligible population (those 18 and older) have initiated vaccination, according to the state of Missouri’s COVID-19 dashboard, which monitors vaccine data.
In Perry County, a reported 51.7 percent of residents 18 and older have initiated vaccination (7,620) and 48.5 percent have completed vaccination (7,144). This includes 17,109 COVID-19 doses administered since the pandemic began, 383 administered in the past week and an average of 55 doses administered per day.
All but one of Missouri’s counties (Pulaski, 27.8 percent) have surpassed at least 30.0 percent of its 18 and above population in the “initiated vaccination” category. Another 11 counties have between 30.0 and 39.9 percent of the 18 and older population falling into the “percent initiated” range.
Among those 18 and older in the state’s Region C, which includes 11 east central counties encompassing and surrounding St. Louis, north to Pike County, west to Franklin County and south to Perry County, a total of 1.24 million residents, or about 70.1 percent of the population fits into the “initiating vaccination” category while another 63.3 percent have “completed vaccination.” Four of these counties (St. Louis, 75.6 percent; St. Charles, 73.7 percent; Franklin, 63.8 percent; and Jefferson, 61.9 percent; plus the city of St. Louis, 69.0) are all above 60.0 percent in terms of initiating vaccination.
Statewide, a total of 92.6 percent of Missouri residents ages 65 and older have initiated COVID-19 vaccination while another 84.3 percent in this age range have completed vaccination. Perry County, which has 80.1 percent of those ages 65 and above, is among 34 Missouri counties or municipalities with an initiated vaccination rate of 80 percent or better.
Overall, a reported 41.4 percent of Perry County residents have initiated COVID-19 vaccination while 38.5 percent have completed vaccination, according to the state of Missouri’s COVID-19 dashboard, which tracks the vaccination status of all 114 counties.
A total of 50 other counties are, similar to Perry County, showing between 40.0 and 49.9 percent of the population at least initially vaccinated. This includes 7,919 residents initiating vaccination for COVID-19 and 7,370 residents who have completed COVID-19 vaccination.
Nearby counties also in this range include St. Francois (45.8 percent initiated vaccination, or 30,798 residents) and Ste. Genevieve (47.9 percent initiated vaccination, or 8,577 residents).
Cape Girardeau County, at 59.4 percent to initiate vaccination, is one of 11 Missouri counties and cities (St. Louis, Joplin, Independence and Kansas City) that has between 50.0 and 69.9 percent of residents in the initiated vaccination category.
In Perry County, a total of 2,949 ages 65 and older have initiated vaccination. Perry County has 2,861 in that age range have completed vaccination.
Adjacent counties of Cape Girardeau (92.5 percent), Ste. Genevieve (83.6 percent), St Francois (79.7 percent) and Madison (70.3 percent) counties are all above 70 percent initiated vaccination. Nearby Bollinger County, with 56.2 percent initiated (1,436 residents) and 52.6 percent completed (1,344 residents) is among 42 counties statewide that have a percent vaccinated of between 50.0 and 69.9 percent for those 65 and older.
5-17 population update

For county residents ages 5-17, a total of 9.3 percent have initiated vaccination (305) while 7.2 percent, or 235 residents, have completed vaccination. Adjacent counties are slightly above Perry in most cases, including Cape Girardeau (17.9), St. Francis (14.4), Ste. Genevieve (13.6), Madison (10.3), except for Bollinger County (6.4 percent, 125 residents). All but four Missouri counties have fewer than 30.0 percent of 5-17 year-olds that have initiated vaccination. The areas surpassing 40.0 percent are Boone (42.5 percent) and St. Louis (42.3 percent) counties while St. Louis city (38.6 percent), Jackson County (35.0 percent), St. Charles County (34.9 percent), and Kansas City (34.4 percent) have between 34.4 and 38.6 percent of those age 5-17 in the initiated category.
Statewide, the total of 5-17 year-olds that have initiated COVID-19 vaccination is at 28.3 percent (283,362 residents) while 22.2 percent (222,644) have “completed vaccination.”
Statewide, a total of 3.65 million residents, or about 59.5 percent have initiated vaccination while 3.23 million, or about 52.7 percent, have completed COVID-19 vaccination.
Forty-two Missouri counties have less than 10.0 percent of those ages 5-17 in the “initiated vaccination” category, with four below five percent — Clark (4.2), Putnam, (4.2), Schuyler (4.1) and Lewis, (3.6). This also includes fourteen Missouri counties which have fewer than 100 residents ages 5-17 that have “initiated vaccination” as of Dec. 14.
Overall numbers
A total of 11 Missouri counties have an “initiated vaccination” rate of between 50.0 and 69.9 percent of all residents. St. Louis County leads the way at 65.9 percent.
Just six Missouri counties, Ripley (29.5 percent), Reynolds (29.4 percent), Schuyler (29.4 percent), Douglas (26.8 percent), Scotland (26.1 percent), Pulaski (23.6 percent), have fewer than 30.0 percent of residents in the initiated vaccination category.
The vaccine data is collected by the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. Not all vaccines which are administered by federal programs are reported to the Missouri DHSS.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Nationwide, a total of 202.2 million U.S. residents were vaccinated as of Dec. 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control. This is estimated to be 60.9 percent of the U.S. population. Additionally, 54.5 million people (about 26.9 percent of the total population) have received a booster dose. More than half (51.6 percent) of the U.S. population age 65 and older has received a booster dose.
Twenty-two U.S. states as well as the District of Columbia have administered at least one dose of the vaccine to 70 percent of their population. Missouri, at 61.2 percent, is one of 18 states that has administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to between 60.0 and 69.9 percent of residents.
Vermont has the highest percent of residents with at least one doses of the vaccine (92 percent, 1.25 million residents) while Idaho has the lowest vaccine dosage rate (51.5 percent, 920,188 residents), followed closely by Wyoming (54.7 percent, 316,355) and Mississippi (54.7 percent, 1.62 million).