“We’ve been tracking concerns for years,” she said. “Now was a good time to provide those services.”

Between 2016 and Oct. 31 of this year, the health department’s immunization clinic received 158 requests for typhoid vaccines, 53 requests for yellow fever vaccines and 41 requests for malaria vaccines (which are unavailable in the U.S.).

A spokesman for the department said there are no records on community requests for blood pressure and cholesterol screenings.

In an exit interview from July obtained by the Post-Dispatch, a former nurse said the health department “has future plans that do not take into account the community needs and wants … the immunization and education program has significantly decreased their services, when the needs have tremendously increased.”

While St. Charles County has some of the lowest poverty rates in the region, more than 8 percent of children, or about 7,700 kids in the county, live at or below the poverty level, according to 2016 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. That’s up from 6 percent in 2009.