(Scott County, IA) -- Tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Scott County.
On Tuesday, Scott County health leaders announced that 92,900 vaccines have been given in the county and that 32,800 residents are now fully vaccinated. There has been a total of 19,692 positive tests of COVID-19 and 233 residents in the county have died as a result of the virus.
Amy Thoreson with the Scott County Health Department said Tuesday was a “monumental day” since all residents in the state 16+ are now able to be vaccinated. “It is truly amazing that just a few weeks after the 1 year anniversary of our first case of COVID-19, we have access to 3 highly effective and safe vaccines to protect against the severe illness and death that can be caused by the coronavirus,” Thoreson said. “Many individuals are worried about which vaccine they should receive, the best vaccine is the one you can get access to first. At this time, the Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine available to youth ages 16 & 17. Pfizer has started trials for their COVID-19 vaccine on 12-15 year olds and the results look promising. However, Pfizer is not yet authorized for this age group.”
Thoreson said while the county has overcome hurdles to the vaccine roll out there are still hurdles to address to make sure everyone gets vaccinated. “We have overcome many hurdles to vaccine roll out, including strict prioritization requirements, limited vaccine supply, and the need to figure out how to distribute a vaccine that requires extreme storage requirements while also ensuring strict social distancing measures,” Thoreson said. “This type of rapid response has never occurred in public health. Our next hurdle is making sure that enough individuals are vaccinated to truly ensure the virus is no longer able to spread due to immunity of its possible hosts and to do this while we are seeing cases rise to uncomfortable levels.”
Thoreson said now is the “time to act” saying residents have a choice to be vaccinated “for ourselves, our families, and our community.”
“Luckily, we aren’t at a loss for options on where to get vaccinated and these options continue to increase,” Thoreson said. “Many will choose to look to their healthcare provider for vaccine.”