Alex Smith
Alex Smith began working in radio as an intern at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. A few years and a couple of radio jobs later, he became the assistant producer of KCUR's magazine show, KC Currents. In January 2014 he became KCUR's health reporter.
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Polling suggests that attitudes and misunderstandings among political conservatives and people with limited health care coverage may pose the biggest challenges to mass vaccination.
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While outsiders blame low rural vaccination rates on vaccine hesitancy, local health officials say the state’s distribution system has made providing shots difficult.
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The Missouri health department has acknowledged that it has used national data to estimate Missouri’s racial breakdown, rather than data based on the state's population. That information has been a source of frustration for local health officials working to ensure that vaccine distribution is equitable. State officials now plan to use 2019 U.S. Census data from Missouri but say some parts of the data remain problematic.
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State officials provided no explanation why they used national racial percentages rather than data based on Missouri’s population.
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KU doctors urged the public to recognize the proven safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
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Missouri officials initially slated inmates for earlier vaccination due to their higher risk for COVID-19 infection.
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Though Missouri has been vaccinating seniors for months, nearly half haven't received COVID-19 shots.
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It’s unclear when the data will be fixed. The Kansas City Health Department hasn’t published local data because of concerns about its accuracy.
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Racial data on COVID-19 vaccinations provided to media outlets by Missouri lacked dates or definitions to indicate what the numbers meant.
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An app created over the course of a long weekend has already connected some Kansas City residents with needed vaccines.