On March 5, the Kansas City Region COVID-19 Data Hub began publishing vaccination data at the state level and for Missouri health jurisdictions. On March 18, data for Kansas health jurisdictions was added.
Many data hub users have since reached out with great questions regarding the new vaccination data. The following FAQ was designed to answer those questions and share information about the vaccination data displayed on the Kansas City Region COVID-19 Data Hub.
- How are vaccines counted on the data hub?
- How frequently does vaccine data update?
- Why isn’t there a published value for total doses administered for a particular county?
- Why was data for Kansas health jurisdictions added later?
How are vaccines counted on the data hub?
Vaccine data displayed on the hub is subject to the methods used by the jurisdictions from which data is collected. Additionally, vaccine counts are based on an individual’s place of residence, regardless of where the individual received their vaccine.
The data displayed on the Kansas City Region COVID-19 Data Hub may not capture all vaccinations occurring in the region. Doses administered through federal programs such as the federal pharmacy distribution program, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense may not be represented. All vaccines distributed through the state vaccination programs are included on the regional hub.
How frequently does vaccine data update?
Data on the hub is updated daily to reflect the most recently available data. The sources of the data vary in their update frequency based on the jurisdiction:
- Missouri jurisdictions update vaccine data daily.
- For Kansas jurisdictions, data updates vary by jurisdiction (as described below). Update frequencies may change.
- Wyandotte County updates several times per week.
- Johnson County updates approximately once per week.
- Leavenworth County updates twice per week.
- Miami County updates once a week or less.
Why does a particular county have a much lower or higher percent of its population vaccinated than others?
There are many reasons the data may show differences among jurisdictional vaccination rates.
Some variation is due to differences in reporting. For example, update frequency should be taken into consideration when comparing jurisdictions. A jurisdiction with more recent data may reflect a much larger percent of its population as being vaccinated than one with an update that is several days prior. Readers can check when the data was last updated on the source websites. Links to the original sources can be found under the FAQ Resources page of the hub.
As of March 25, some jurisdictions have limited visibility into vaccinations occurring in their jurisdiction due to the complicated nature of data reporting and sharing.
Finally, many real-life factors can impact the pace of vaccination. The state and federal distribution programs determine how many doses are shipped to any given local jurisdiction. Other factors such as availability of equipment or staff, resident demand, and even weather can impact how many vaccinations are given. The hub does not account for these factors.
Why isn’t there a published value for total doses administered for a particular county?
Not all jurisdictions publish the total number of doses administered, as of March 25. MARC staff cannot necessarily calculate the total doses from the initiated and completed regimen data because it isn’t always clear how many vaccinations are from a two-dose regime or a single-dose regime. In these instances, this indicator is left blank for those jurisdictions.
Why was data for Kansas health jurisdictions added later than Missouri jurisdictions?
Kansas and Missouri have separate vaccination reporting processes with several differences. One difference is how the states publish vaccination data for the public. At the time of the data hub’s vaccination page launch, Missouri had begun publishing information at the county level on its statewide data dashboard. In Kansas, vaccine data is published via the local health departments for its jurisdictions. Once this data was consistently available from Kansas jurisdictions, MARC staff added it to the Kansas City Region COVID-19 Data Hub.
For more information on the sources for the vaccination data shown on the hub, visit the FAQ and Sources tabs of the FAQ Resources page.