As COVID-19 vaccinations in Moniteau County have tapered off throughout the past two months, staff at the Moniteau County Health Center have voiced concerns that misinformation and other barriers causing hesitancy are to blame.
To date, an estimated 23 percent of Moniteau County's population of about 16,000 residents has completed the vaccination process, according to the state's vaccination data dashboard. According to the dashboard, the trend of daily doses administered has been on the decline statewide since mid-April as more Missouri residents have been vaccinated, but the share of those throughout the state who have completed vaccination is also much higher than Moniteau County's individual statistic. Statewide, 45.5 percent of those 18 and older have completed vaccination, nearly doubling Moniteau County's current percentage.
The number of vaccinations administered by the Health Center has remained roughly the same since the last week of April, when a mass vaccination clinic was held in California, Moniteau County Health Center administrator Andrea Kincaid said. Otherwise, there's only been an additional 250 or so doses administered in the past month and a half, according to the Health Center's COVID-19 dashboard. Kincaid said that culminates in Moniteau County representing the second-lowest percentage of individuals who have initiated vaccination among the 13 mid-Missouri counties in the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop F region, behind just Miller County.
The biggest barrier leading to hesitancy about the vaccine, Kincaid said, is misinformation - "myths and rumors running rampant" that have circulated for months, in a similar fashion to some of the same inaccurate information that was spread last year about wearing masks and the coronavirus itself. Rumors like the vaccine causing infertility - deemed false by experts with MU Health Care and Johns Hopkins Medicine - and a viral TikTok circulating among high school-aged members of the population claiming there's "metal" in the vaccine that will cause magnets to stick to one's arm. Both myths have been deemed inaccurate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"You can Google that and there's articles about it" Kincaid said. "I don't know how you get ahead of those rumors."
Another response Kincaid has seen is the vaccine causing myocarditis or pericarditis - inflammation of the heart - mostly in male adolescents 16 and older. Though there have been such cases reported, it's rare, she said. It's a fact corroborated by the CDC, which states that such reports are rare given the number of vaccine doses administered; more than 165 million people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Those patients that have experienced such symptoms who received care have responded well to medicine and rest and quickly felt better, according to the CDC.
With many of the concerns - factual or not - health care professionals encounter as stopping points centered around adolescents, the county is in about the same place it was months ago, especially regarding school-aged children.
"We were really hoping when (the vaccine) opened up to ages 12 and up that we would see an influx of parents bringing their children in to get vaccinated, and we're not really seeing that at this point," Kincaid said.
Kincaid said it would be accurate to assume that not much of the county's school-aged population is vaccinated entering the summer months. Schools around the county haven't really been receptive about hosting vaccination clinics, she said. It's not for lack of opportunity; Kincaid said the Health Center has hosted evening clinics and offers vaccinations during its sports physicals, but just hasn't been getting any bites.
That will likely lead to a similar experience as the past academic year upon returning to school in the fall, she said.
"Everybody doesn't want masks; well, we're going to have to get our vaccination rates higher across the country (first)," Kincaid said. "Masks are going to be once again recommended, and I assume that's going to be quite the struggle next fall."
For the time being, the Health Center is staying the course, posting factual information on its social media channels and continuing to offer the vaccine to those who come to the clinic.
"And if we just get one person, we think maybe, hopefully, once people see more of their peers' children get vaccinated, (they might think) 'Oh, well maybe it's not so bad,'" Kincaid said. "Maybe more people will get vaccinated."
Another contributing factor to current vaccine hesitancy, she said, could be the relatively low active case count in the county since February. As of Friday, there were seven active COVID-19 cases in Moniteau County, part of a total of 1,949 since the start of the pandemic, but there haven't been any large spikes for a while. Were the vaccine available last November, when active cases in Moniteau County at one time peaked at 243, Kincaid said enouraging people to get vaccinated might have been "a different story."
Those that were interested in getting vaccinated early after a vaccine was available, such as the older and elderly population, have long before now been vaccinated. Now, the demand's not there anymore; Health Center immunization coordinator Jayna Marriott said they've worked through the Health Center's entire previously-lengthy wait list and vaccination appointments now are much more sparse.
If the county stays on its current course, both Kincaid and Marriott said they have concerns they would caution the public about. Along with the unpopular protocols at schools likely continuing to be recommended, Kincaid said she's concerned about COVID-19 variants, and about an influx of influenza cases when flu season rolls around later this year. The number of flu cases was reduced last year thanks to the widespread use of masks, she said, but with more people opting not to mask recently and potentially later in the year, an outbreak could be possible.
Another concern, Marriott said, is COVID-19 re-infection.
"And people don't understand that just because they've had COVID before doesn't mean they'll never get it again," Marriott said. "We are seeing people re-infected, and sometimes being more ill the second time around than the first time."
Kincaid said it's also still hard to anticipate the long-term effects of COVID-19, yet another concern that getting more people vaccinated could help alleviate.
Kincaid and Marriott said they would encourage members of the public who are not vaccinated to contact the Health Center at 573-796-3412 to learn more. The Health Center has Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available for any patient 12 and older, with no insurance or payment required.
Kincaid said she also wanted to let members of the public know that the Health Center facilitates vaccinations for homebound members of the population, something they've done throughout the months since vaccines became available. Homebound individuals who wish to be vaccinated can contact Aging Best, formerly known as the Area Agency on Aging, at 1-800-369-5211 or the Health Center to learn more.