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KCUR 89.3 Health experts say the goal of achieving herd immunity through vaccination rates of 70% to 80% may require specialized outreach in rural areas. While outsiders blame low rural vaccination rates on vaccine hesitancy, local health officials say the state’s distribution system has made providing shots difficult. More than one-in-three Missouri residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, but in much of southern Missouri vaccinations have stalled at some of the lowest rates in the country. During the first few months of the vaccination campaign, many rural parts of Missouri received more doses per person than cities. But an investigation by KCUR found that many of these doses didn’t make it into the arms of local residents, and state data provides limited information about where they wound up. ....