By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph Health Department received its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine and began administering the shot Wednesday.
The department says in a Wednesday afternoon release that 175 people received the first round of shots with two more clinics scheduled for this week. The department hopes to vaccinate another 600 people in Phase 1A this week.
People in Phase 1A include healthcare personnel and residents of long-term care facilities. Once Phase 1A is complete, those in Phase 1B (high risk individuals and those under 65) will receive shots.
Over 526,000 Missourians have been vaccinated thus far, according to data from the CDC.
St. Joseph Health officials report one additional COVID-related death Wednesday - a man in his 80s. The Buchanan County death toll is now 146. There are also 59 new cases in Buchanan County for a total of 9,166.
Andrew County saw an increase in 10 cases for a total of 1,828. There have been 16 COVID-related deaths in Andrew County since the start of the pandemic.
Mosaic Life Care is treating 61 COVID-19 patients - that's up four from the previous day. Fifty-six patients are in St. Joseph, three in Maryville and two in Albany.
Statewide, Missouri reports 2,060 new COVID-19 cases (429,177) and 16 new deaths (6,171).
Kansas has surpassed a quarter of a million cases with 4,539 more cases (252,041 total) reported since Monday's update. There have been 100 more COVID-related deaths (3,335 total) and 189 more Kansans hospitalized (7,540 total) since Monday as well.
Doniphan County, Kansas saw nine new cases (819 total), Brown County 11 more (1,128 total) and Atichson County, KS has 12 more (1,344).