Rural clinics planned as vaccination rate of cities out-pace less populated areas

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Vaccination rates are higher in more populated areas, starting to out-pace rural areas.

According to data from the Columbia/Boone County Health Department, about 88.2% of the vaccinated population in Boone County live in Columbia, leaving the other 11.8% in the rest of the county.

About 83.7% of Boone County's population lives in Columbia zip codes.

This data was provided to the department from the state, and may not be completely up to date, because the state doesn't require federal partner programs, like Hy-Vee and Walmart to report their information.

The spokeswoman for the Boone County Health Department Sara Humm said it's hard to compare the numbers, as the populations are very different.

"In Columbia, we may have more people that are healthcare workers, and so they qualified much sooner than other people," Humm said.

This week, the health department is hoping to catch up on some of the county's more rural areas with outreach clinics in Centralia, Ashland and Sturgeon.

The health department will host one event at the Centralia Intermediate School on Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The second dose will be given at the same place and time on Wednesday.

The Thursday event will be in Ashland at the Southern Boone County High School 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. The second dose will be given at the same place and the same time on Thursday.

On May 4, the health department will hold an event at the Sturgeon Youth Center from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The second dose will be administered at the same place and the same time on Tuesday.

These clinics will be for walk-ins and no appointments are required, which Humm hopes attract more people.

"We're just trying to make the vaccinations are convenient as possible so people don't feel like they have to go out of their way, especially in the more rural parts of the county, where they don't have to drive to Columbia," Humm said. "30-minute drive here, getting the vaccination, waiting for the 15-minutes, 30-minute drive back, that's a significant amount of their day."

She said communication about getting the vaccine in more rural communities is more family-centered, while outreach in the city is more about the community.

"Different messages resonate with different people, so we are trying that mixture of a bit more personal versus community hoping that some of those stick," Humm said.

Providers in less populated counties are also planning outreach clinics to get the vaccine in arms of rural Missourians.

The Central Missouri Behavioral Health Network is hosting several vaccine events in Saline County coming up. The event will take place in Marshall at the CL Stephenson Building. The soonest one planned is on Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

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Saline County is behind the state in percent population vaccinated. Missouri's vaccine dashboard shows as of Monday, 31.5% of the county's population of 22,761 has had at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine.

Missouri is reporting that 36.7% of the total population has started the vaccination process.

In Boone County, 43.3% of the population of 180,463 has at least one shot.