Vaccination efforts going well

We don’t need to compare Nodaway County to the rest of the state to know that the vaccination effort spearheaded by Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville, the Nodaway County Health Department and Northwest Missouri State University is going well.

But when we do compare, it becomes even clearer just how smoothly the effort has gone so far.

As of Wednesday, more than 3,500 people have received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Nodaway County, which accounts for more than 15 percent of the county’s population. That’s one of the highest percentages in the state.

The advantage we have here in Nodaway County is Mosaic, which was given priority for vaccines because of its large reach. Other rural counties with smaller hospitals — or none at all — have not been as fortunate, and have had to rely on state-assembled mass vaccination events that are not nearly as well put together as the ones that have been held weekly here in Maryville.

Nodaway County Health Department Administrator Tom Patterson said last week that most of the eligible people in the county in the current active state tiers have received at least a first dose. This is a tremendous step for our community.

At some point, hopefully soon, the state will open up the vaccines to more and more patients, and we hope demand stays high as community members opt to be vaccinated for the good of everyone.

In the meantime we applaud the efforts of Mosaic, the health department and Northwest for coming through in a time when we need it most.