The Christian County Health Department announced it would stop doing work related to stopping the spread of COVID-19 on Dec. 13, but vaccination is still available through the health department for Christian County residents who are interested.
It should also be noted that vaccines are widely available through many other sources in Christian County and in the Springfield metropolitan area.
The stoppage of COVID-19 work at the county health department includes investigations, contact tracing, quarantine orders and public announcements of cases and deaths. The Christian County Health Department no longer publishes a weekly data update to its website and social media feeds.
However, COVID-19 data for Christian County is still available from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, though it can be difficult for some users to navigate the state health department's website to find the data.
As of Dec. 15, a total of 12,810 Missouri deaths were confirmed to be caused by COVID-19, and another 2,897 deaths had a probable link to the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus and its mutations.
In the seven days from Dec. 8-15, a total of 13,327 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed across Missouri, a daily average of 1,904. Data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services shows that 159 of those new cases were in Christian County, for an average of 23 new cases confirmed per day.
The Christian County Health Department offers only the Moderna vaccine for adult COVID vaccinations. You can call (417) 581-7285 to schedule an appointment or visit Vaccinefinder.org to find a vaccinator near you.
All Missourians aged 5 and older are now eligible for COVID vaccination. In addition, youth 16 and older and adults are also eligible for booster shots if six months of time have passed since the completion of their first vaccine cycle. The following locations are offering Pfizer vaccines:
Alps Pharmacy of Nixa (417) 865-1547
Cox Health or call (417) 269-1300
Jordan Valley (417) 831-0150
Mercy (833) 364-6777
Walgreens of Ozark and Nixa
Walmart of Ozark and Nixa
There may be other sites in Christian County offering boosters and initial vaccines.
"Research shows that all COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States continue to be highly effective at preventing severe illness and death," a statement from the Christian County Health Department reads.
A breakthrough infection is a case in which a fully vaccinated person develops COVID-19. Missouri has had 71,181 breakthrough infections amongst its population of 3.2 million vaccinated persons, a percentage of 2.2. Unvaccinated persons make up 85 percent of Missouri's COVID-19 cases, and 90 percent of Missouri's COVID-19 deaths have been among unvaccinated persons.
The breakthrough death rate amongst Missouri's 3.2 million vaccinated persons is 0.02 percent. There have been 772 instances of vaccinated persons dying of COVID-19 in Missouri as of Dec. 15.
Underlying factors, including chronic kidney disease, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, COPD, obesity, Alzheimer's and dementia, liver disease and certain cancers have all been linked to breakthrough deaths, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The average age of a person who died of a breakthrough case was 77, and 88 percent of the Missourians who died from breakthrough cases had at least one underlying health condition.
