New data shows which counties in the Kansas City area have the most people vaccinated
Johnson County leads the Kansas City metropolitan area for the highest percentage of fully vaccinated residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC said 19.9% of Johnson County — or 119,612 residents — were fully vaccinated.
Clay County followed at 16.4% while Jackson and Platte counties were at 15.3%. Wyandotte County was the lowest at 11.2%.
Janell Friesen, spokeswoman for the Wyandotte County health department, said they were seeing low vaccination rates.
“It’s really tough to see the number so low,” Friesen said, “especially for a county that has been hit harder by the pandemic than other counties in the metro area.”
Early on in the vaccine rollout, the health department established a mass vaccination site and two more have opened since then. Friesen said they are now working to fight misinformation with communications campaigns and canvassers who are doing outreach. The health department is also working on accessibility issues.
“This includes things like offering transportation assistance to and from vaccine appointments, vaccines for people who are homebound, offering vaccines both with and without appointments, and exploring alternate vaccination hours,” Friesen said.
According to CDC data, a total of 302,316 people in the metro were fully vaccinated.
All Kansas residents age 16 or older are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said 1,229,509 doses had been administered with 27.5% of the population initiating vaccination statewide.
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses to be considered fully vaccinated. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is one shot.
Missouri is in phase two of its vaccine distribution which includes vulnerable groups and employees in certain industries. All residents will become eligible April 9.
The state has administered 2,522,050 doses with 26.1% of the population initiating vaccination.
As of Friday morning, the Kansas City metro had recorded a total of 142,046 coronavirus cases including 2,096 deaths.
