Nearly 42% of Minnesota seniors have at least 1st dose of COVID-19 vaccine

(FOX 9) - The most recent data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows 762,089 people in Minnesota have at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 362,156 are fully vaccinated, roughly 13.7% and 6.5% of the state’s population respectively.

At least 359,346 Minnesota seniors have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, or 41.8% of the state’s age 65 and older population. MDH’s data is accurate as of Feb. 21 as reporting lags by a few days.

Winter storm shipping delays now apparent in MN vaccine data

Minnesota health officials expect to administer enough COVID-19 vaccines to catch up within a week after a winter storm across the U.S. forced thousands of appointments to be delayed here.

MDH reported 513 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday out of 9,498 tests—5.4% positivity rate. Mondays and Tuesdays typically see a lower volume of tests than other days of the week.

The 513 newly reported cases brings the total number of COVID-19 cases Minnesota has seen since the start of the pandemic to 480,091. There are currently 6,510 active cases of COVID-19 in the state. Over 97% of Minnesota’s COVID-19 cases have recovered to the point where the infected person no longer needs to be isolated from others.

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Health officials also reported one additional death attributed to COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the state’s death toll from the coronavirus to 6,434. The person who died was a Rock County resident in their late 70s.

On Monday, the United States passed 500,000 deaths from COVID-19.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 increased slightly from the day before from 235 to 269. Of those 269 COVID-19 patients, 54 are in the ICU.

Minnesota online vaccine registry

Minnesota launched an online vaccine registry last week for people who have not yet gotten a vaccine—even those who are not currently eligible—to get notified of future opportunities.

Health officials are encouraging all Minnesotans who have not gotten a vaccine to sign up on COVID-19 Vaccine Connector website. The website requires people to fill out a short form with basic information such as contact information, medical history and employment information, after which it will alert them when they are eligible to receive a vaccine and connect them to resources for scheduling a vaccine appointment.

Minnesotans can sign up at mn.gov/vaccineconnector. Minnesotans unable to sign up online can call 833-431-2053 for assistance signing up over the phone. Translation is available by phone in all languages by calling the translation hotline at 833-431-2053.