More Missourians are becoming eligible to get vaccinated as the state opens up appointments to Tier 3. More than 21,000 people have been vaccinated in Boone County by MU Health Care, Boone Health, and Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services.
Sara Humm, the Public Information Specialist at Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, said that the vaccination process has progressed with federal vaccine supplies and to the vaccines granted to Boone County from the state.
“One of the struggles we’ve always had is vaccine supply. It’s certainly gotten better because places like Walmart, Sam’s Club and HyVee have started vaccinating folks. Because of that, we get more vaccines into our communities than we had previously,” said Humm.
MU Health Care stated that currently all appointment slots are full in Monday’s weekly vaccine survey update. This includes appointments with MU Health Care, Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, and Boone Health.
Humm said the vaccine appointments get booked quickly. Monday’s 300 slots were filled within an hour and a half.
“We’re continuing to try to work through some of those barriers that people have,” said Humm. “For example, we have a program working with folks who are homebound to get them vaccinated. Then we’re also doing outreach clinics. That’s going to continue to be more important as we move through this phase and this tier system.”
Boone County is working to make vaccines accessible to communities with barriers during the vaccination process, whether it be access to the Internet or transportation, according to Humm.
More information on vaccine accessibility can be found at https://www.como.gov/health/.