Over 636,000 Iowans complete COVID-19 shots

A day before COVID-19 vaccine eligibility opens broadly throughout Iowa, the state reported Sunday that 636,513 Iowans have been fully vaccinated - over 48,000 of them in Linn County and nearly 38,000 in Johnson County.

Starting Monday, anyone over 16 is eligible to schedule an appointment, not only the priority groups that started getting doses on Dec. 14, 2020. While the supply of vaccines is increasing, though, public health officials caution that demand still far outweighs supply and about three-fourths of the state's age 16 and up population has yet to be fully inoculated.

In Linn County, public health data show that 48,001 people had been fully vaccinated as of Sunday. That's about 26.60 percent of the county's 16 and up population.

In Johnson County, 37,963 people were fully vaccinated as of Sunday. That's about 30.54 percent of the county's 16-and-up population.

New cases

The state reported 431 new COVID-19 cases in the 24-hour period that ended at 11 a.m. Sunday. That brings the total number of cases in Iowa so far to 353,242.

Of those, Linn County added 26 cases, for a total of 19,976. Johnson County added 21 cases, for a total of 13,655.

Statewide, for those up to age 17, 73 new cases were added in the period, for a total of 40,787.

Hospitalizations

Public health data reported only minor fluctuations in the 24-hour period in patients being treated in Iowa hospitals for the disease.

The number of patients inched up from 200 to 201. But those in intensive care rose from 44 to 47 and those using ventilators to breathe increased from 20 to 23.

Deaths

No additional COVID-19 deaths were confirmed in the 24-hour period. The total number of Iowans who have died as a result of the infection stood Sunday at 5,822.