In several counties across the Ozarks region, less than 20% of the population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. That's lower than half the national average, which is around 42%, according to data from the CDC.
McDonald County in the extreme southwest corner of the state has only 13.7% of their population fully vaccinated, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard.
Running close behind are Douglas County with 14.7%, Ozark and Howell counties with 16.8%, and Ripley and Oregon counties with 17.2% of their populations vaccinated.
Newton, Shannon, Texas and Carter Counties also have yet to reach the 20% mark. You can find a map of county-by-county vaccination rates by clicking here.
Erik Frederick, Chief Administrative Officer of Mercy Springfield, said the spike in local COVID hospitalizations appears to correlate to the small percentage of the population getting vaccinations.
“There are some counties that are as low as 13 to 17 percent acceptance rate, fully vaccinated, so it’s pretty startling,” Frederick says.
On Friday, Mercy Springfield president Craig McCoy told reporters that over half of the COVID patients in Mercy Springfield live outside of Greene County.
CoxHealth CEO and president Steve Edwards shared data on Twitter Tuesday showing that the majority of COVID patients in his hospital are also coming from outside of Greene County.
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