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COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to steadily increase in Johnson County, and local health officials say they hope the recent announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the Pfizer vaccine is now fully authorized will only drive vaccination rates higher.
Currently, Johnson County’s vaccination rate sits at about 59%, according to the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. (Data tracked by the CDC, which includes individuals who were vaccinated in other states, shows the percentage of eligible Johnson County residents who are vaccinated is currently 72%.)
Following the continued surge of the Delta variant across the country, local health officials continue to urge citizens to become vaccinated and are hoping the FDA approval which came one week ago, will convince some vaccine holdouts to finally get the shots.
“We understand from national polling that nearly one-third of adults who are not yet vaccinated say they would be more likely to get vaccinated if the vaccine were to receive full FDA approval,” said Dr. Samni Areola, Ph.D., Johnson County’s health director.
“JCDHE would love to see as many eligible people receive the vaccine as possible to protect our community against COVID-19,” he said.
What full approval means
The FDA announced full authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week to anyone 16 years and older.
The vaccine also continues to be available under emergency use authorization (EUA) for individuals 12 to 15 years of age and for the administration of a third dose in certain immunocompromised individuals.
Children younger than 12 remain ineligible for any COVID-19 vaccine.
Now that the FDA has approved the vaccine, health experts say vaccine mandates could become more common.
Thousands of organizations across the U.S. — including corporations, colleges, universities and hospitals — have already imposed vaccination requirements on workers and students.
Google, Facebook and the Pentagon, among other organizations, cited the FDA approval when they announced their own vaccine mandates last week.
New York City announced last week all public school teachers and staff members would need to be vaccinated.
CVS Health, which has multiple locations in Johnson County, said it will require nurses, care managers, and all corporate staff to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 31, and all pharmacists working in its retail stores to be vaccinated by Nov. 30.
What this means in Johnson County:
While the rate of vaccination in Johnson County continues to hover around 60%, local health officials say they are concerned about the low overall vaccination rate within the Kansas City region.
Overall, the Mid-America Regional Council reports the vaccination rate for the Kansas City metro is 48%.
At the same time, the rise of the Delta variant continues to have a severe impact on unvaccinated people and has perpetuated a renewed spread of the virus this summer.
Local health officials say Kansas City-area hospitals’ ICU capacity is being strained to its limits, with unvaccinated patients sick with the Delta variant experiencing bouts of illness that are requiring longer stays than in previous COVID-19 waves.
Currently, vaccine mandates remain uncharted territory in Johnson County but that could change in the coming months as corporations and businesses look for the safest and most effective path to bring back employees to the office.
While a mask mandate is not in effect for Johnson County, health officials continue to urge individuals to wear masks and practice social distancing regardless of their vaccination status.
Dr. Areola reiterated this message last week saying, “We know there are many people who are still undecided about getting vaccinated. We will continue to work with our public health partners to share with the public the mounting evidence that the vaccines work. And as more of us get vaccinated, we become that much closer to returning to normalcy.”
Here are some key COVID-19 metrics in Johnson County:
- Percent Positive: 9.3% percent positive, 14-day average (decrease of 0.4% since Aug. 16)
- Cumulative cases: 53,621 positive cases of COVID-19 (increase of 2,212 over prior 14 days)
- Incidence rate: 367 new cases per 100K persons over prior 14 days (decrease of 20 since Aug. 16)
- Total deaths: 728 deaths
Vaccine opportunities in Johnson County this week:
The following information comes from the Johnson County health department’s website:
Monday, Aug. 30:
- 5 – 7:00 p.m. Johnson County Government Sunset Building (Rooms 1070 & 1075) — 11811 S. Sunset, Olathe, KS
COVID-19 vaccines are also available on a walk-in basis at the county’s vaccination clinic in Mission, located at 6000 Lamar Ave., Suite 140.
That clinic’s hours of operation are from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
People being seen for services at the department’s Olathe walk-in clinic can also get a COVID-19 vaccination there, too.
