Butler County gearing up for next wave of vaccine eligibility

Demand for COVID-19 vaccine is staying steady as Butler County Public Health prepares for open eligibility for Iowans next week.

In particular, the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been highly sought, though the county is still being allocated the two-shot Moderna vaccine.

"We have a lot of people that want to be vaccinated," said Butler County Public Health Director Jennifer Becker during last week's county Board of Supervisor's meeting. "They call in and want to be put on the list, but they really want the Johnson & Johnson."

Becker also noted that she was aware that North Butler had dropped their mask mandate and that public health was not consulted about the decision nor does she approve of it from a public health standpoint.

While the county has largely completed getting the vaccine out to area teachers, Becker noted that the willingness of teachers to receive the vaccine had been a mixed bag.

Public Health held their regular booster clinic on Tuesday, but because of Good Friday and the holiday weekend there will be no prime clinic this week.

The county is still working through the population of 65 and under with underlying health conditions and hopes they will be ready for next week when the state is expected to open up eligibility to all Iowans.

Those that want to receive the vaccine can call the county to be put on the waiting list and will be notified when their appointment is scheduled.

As of Monday, March 29, approximately 8,110 doses of vaccine have been administered to Butler County residents, with 3,157 residents completing their two-dose vaccine series and an additional 62 receiving their one-dose vaccine.

A total of 1,609 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the county, increasing the county total in the last week by just three cases, a reduction after a slight bump last week.

In Butler County, 6,917 individuals have been tested at some point during the pandemic, with a total of 27,193 tests performed on Butler County residents overall. In the last 14 days, 1.3% of total tests have been positive for the virus. The state no longer tracks the number of individuals testing positive or recovered cases, making it difficult to determine how many active cases there are.

One additional death was reported in the county last week, bringing the county total to 33.