Vaccine available for Webster County citizens 12 and up

COVID cases in Webster County have tapered off this week with 23 active cases pegged on the latest statistics update, as of May 24. To date, 102 in the county have been hospitalized with 56 total deaths. Currently from Webster County, there is only one COVID patient hospitalized at cox and none at Mercy. 

“Right now it’s important that we get as many people vaccinated as we can. The goal for a given population is that you want to get at least 50-75%, Webster County is at 24%. So we’re way under where we need to be on vaccine,” said Scott Allen of the Webster County Health Unit. 

Some vaccination locations in Webster County are providing the Pfizer vaccine to children age 12-18 years old. According to the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence, children and teens have a lower risk of getting severely ill from COVID, but they can develop serious and long-term complications from COVID, and some have died. They claim statistics show fatality in children due to COVID-19 about twice as often as they do from the flu. The risk of transmitting the virus is also coined a reason that vaccinations are necessary.

“Currently, there are four vaccinators in the count that are providing the Pfizer vaccine to 12-18 year olds in Webster County. Those are Jordan Valley, Marshfield Clinic Pharmacy, Rogersville Pharmacy and the Fordland Clinic,” he said. “Anybody who wants access to that, we’ve got basically the whole county covered with those locations.”

The same information from the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence stated that long-term side effects from the vaccine were “very unlikely.” Children in the Pfizer trail were followed for up to two months after their second dose, and none of the participants experienced serious side effects. 

“We had a laboratory confirmed case of the UK variant of COVID here, just recently, so we know that it’s still here and vaccination is going to be the key to eliminating it,” Allen added. “If a church group wants us to come on a Sunday, give vaccines to their church, give us a call… if a worksite would like us to come, whatever it takes… it’s important to us that the county know we have vaccine available and we’ll go to whatever length we need to go to to get it in circulation.”

The last hour of business at the Webster County Health Unit every day is now designated to COVID response, where anyone can call and schedule an appointment for testing and vaccination at its Marshfield location. Masks are required for entry per CDC recommendations of mask usage in all healthcare settings. Appointments can be made from 3:30-4:30 every weekday by calling (417) 859-2532.