Little change in area vaccination rates

Kristine Goodrich, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·2 min read

Jun. 13—While new coronavirus virus cases remained in the single digits in the region Sunday, vaccinate rates also remain relatively stagnant.

There were nine new virus cases in The Free Press coverage area reported by the Minnesota Department of Health on Sunday. That is the highest number since May 28, which was the last day regional cases were in the double digits.

Blue Earth County has four new cases, after consecutive days without a case. Watonwan County has two new cases and Faribault, Le Sueur and Waseca counties each have one.

Across Minnesota there were 173 more cases and nine deaths. Three of the latest victims of the pandemic were in their 40s.

The number of people who have been at least partialy vaccinated was nearing 3 million as of Sunday's data. That's nearly 64% of eligible Minnesotans age 12 and older. Over 2.7 million Minnesotans are now fully vaccinated — which is nearly 59% of the eligible population.

The vaccination pace has been largely in free-fall since peaking in April.

Officials recently noted that more than 70% of the 16-and-older population in the Twin Cities metropolitan area had received at least one vaccine dose, but that the rate was below 60% in much of the rest of the state, creating a concerning urban-rural vaccination gap.

Regionally vaccine rates have increased only slightly so far in June.

Fewer than 2,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Blue Earth County so far in June, compared to peaks of over 17,000 during March and April. Similar declines have happened in every area county.

Brown and Nicollet counties lead the region with over 60% of residents age 12 and older now at least partially vaccinated. Blue Earth County is close behind at 59%

Le Sueur and Sibley counties are the only ones in the region with less than half of their eligible residents at least partially vaccinated.

Minnesota has seen notable growth in the number of children ages 12 to 15 getting vaccinated since mid-May when federal authorities approved the Pfizer vaccine for use at those ages.

Health Department data shows nearly 95,000 12-to-15-year-olds with at least one dose, about about 32% of that population.

Regionally, Blue Earth and Nicollet counties have slightly better percentages for that age group while other counties are significantly lower — as little as 14% in Martin County.