Missouri’s governor announced on Thursday that pharmacies across the state will soon be receiving prioritized shipments of the COVID vaccine. Governor Mike Parson tells Capitol reporters in Jefferson City that it’s part of a new partnership with the Missouri Pharmacy Association.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson visits a vaccination clinic at Christian Hospital Northeast near Florissant on March 4, 2021 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)
“Starting next week, 15 percent of our weekly state allocation will be distributed to selected pharmacies across the state,” Parson says.
The governor describes local pharmacies as a trusted health care resource for many Missourians.
“161 pharmacies have been identified in 84 counties and were selected based on ability, location and population,” says Parson.
Missouri has 114 counties, as well as St. Louis City. Pharmacy locations include St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Jefferson City, as well as numerous rural Missouri towns. They include Sedalia, Clinton, Warrensburg, Warrenton, Sullivan, Moberly, Mexico, Sikeston, Portageville, Malden, Kennett, Chillicothe, St. Joseph, Nevada and Joplin. You can find the entire nine-page pharmacy list here.
Governor Parson says the pharmacies have the ability to administer 200 initial doses of COVID vaccines per week.
Meantime, the governor says mass vaccination teams will soon start transitioning operations to include a larger presence in both St. Louis and Kansas City.
“Vaccine interest is often highest in the urban populations,” Parson says. “So starting next week, we will begin transitioning mass vaccination teams to accommodate more events in Region A, which is the Kansas City region, and Region C, in the St. Louis region.”
The governor envisions having the Missouri National Guard in the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas for future two-day vaccination events, where the Guard would administer about 6,000 doses per day and 12,000 doses in two days.
Governor Parson says the St. Louis and Kansas City regions have been receiving the same share of the COVID vaccine as rural areas have. He also continues to praise the work of the Missouri National Guard at targeted vaccination clinics in the two metro areas.
The governor visited a targeted vaccination clinic Thursday at Cambridge Senior Living in St. Louis. The targeted vaccination teams serve vulnerable populations in communities with limited access to health care. He also visited a vaccination clinic held at Christian Hospital Northeast, near the St. Louis suburb of Florissant.
Governor Parson says COVID activity in the state has declined for the seventh straight week, adding that the Show-Me State is second in the nation for average daily cases. Missouri vaccinators have now administered about 1.4 million COVID vaccinations, which includes the first and second shot.
15 percent of Missouri’s population has now received at least one shot, according to the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) COVID-19 dashboard.
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