Here’s how COVID-19 vaccination rates compare among counties in the Kansas City area

Wyandotte County has the lowest vaccination rate in the Kansas City metropolitan area for COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Friday, 19.3% of the population in Wyandotte County was fully vaccinated.

Johnson County, at 30.9%, had the highest percentage in the area.

On the Missouri side, 24.5% of the population in Jackson County was fully vaccinated while Clay County was at 22.6% and Platte County 24.1%.

The rate in Wyandotte County was improving, but still lower than many other Kansas counties, according to Unified Government Public Health Department spokeswoman Janell Friesen.

“There is a lot of work still to be done,” Friesen said in an email. “We are working to increase vaccine access through things like offering free transportation options to and from our vaccine sites; launching early morning, evening, and Saturday hours; and continuing to offer walk-in vaccinations as well as appointments.”

In the four months since COVID-19 vaccines went into use in the U.S., people have at times clamored for an appointment and driven hours to get a shot.

More than half of adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Now health departments and health systems face a slowdown in demand, which is primarily attributed to vaccine hesitancy.

Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, said they had 12,000 doses for the week.

“We’re going to have extra vaccine,” he said.

Stites said distributing the vaccine to private medical offices would help patients overcome hesitancy.

“The number one advocate is a person’s primary care physician,” he said. “We have to get those conversations really going between primary care and those who are hesitant. And one of the best ways to do it, is to park the vaccine in a primary care clinic so when people say yes, they get vaccinated right there.”

The Kansas City Health Department said it has also seen a decline in demand, which was concerning.

“Without achieving herd immunity, it gives dangerous coronavirus variants more time and chance to mutate,” spokeswoman Michelle Pekarsky said in an email.

The Kansas City metropolitan area has recorded more than 144,300 total cases and 2,126 deaths from the virus.

Anyone age 16 or older may get the COVID-19 vaccination.