Missouri leaders plan to receive more vaccine doses next month
COLUMBIA, MO (KMIZ)
Department of Health and Senior Services officials hosted a virtual meeting Wednesday to discuss vaccination plans with the leadership of the state’s interagency COVID-19 vaccine planning team.
Robert Knodell, the deputy chief of staff for Gov. Mike Parson, Department of Health and Senior Services' Director Dr. Randall Williams and Adam Crumbliss, the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services Division of Community and Public Health, all attended the event.
The state plans to receive doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine next month if the vaccine is approved by the FDA. The FDA plans to meet on Feb. 26 to determine if the vaccine will be approved. According to Dr. Randall Williams, the vaccine only requires a single dose and can be stored at standard refrigeration temperatures. Williams said a large distribution of coronavirus vaccines is expected in March, upon the approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
"We should be getting a significantly fair amount of the J&J vaccine which as you remember is just one shot so that doubles our capacity. As you know they've made a commitment to put out 100 million doses by June. Moderna and Pfizer have come out with a renewed commitment to put out 200 million.", said Dr. Williams.
State leaders say they have seen a 5% increase in the amount of Moderna vaccine doses received. This week the state plans to receive 50,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 38,025 of the Pfizer vaccine.
Dr. Williams said his recent amended state health order will allow for retired health care workers to administer the vaccine, along with nursing students and medical students. Williams says this is an all hands on deck approach in vaccine implementation.
"Adding our retired workforce will help and then we also have had medical students helping us, by my order, nursing students helping us and the national guard have been invaluable.", said Dr. Williams.
The state is also working on plans to provide the vaccine to those who may have challenges receiving it. Plans are in place to help those who may not have internet access to register or transportation to get to a clinic.
Dr. Williams is working with minority state leaders to get those who may not have easy access to health care vaccinated. Adam Crumbliss with DHSS said the African-American population has proven to be more at risk to the virus and the department want's to make more efforts into making the vaccine more available to the community.
The state is still in Phase 1B Tier 2 of its vaccination rollout plan. Those who are 65 and older or those who have underlying medical conditions that put them at high risk for the virus are currently able to receive the vaccine.
The state reports 741,108 vaccine doses have been administered. The state says 562,616 first doses have been administered and 178,492 people have received their second dose of the vaccine. Only 9.2% of the state's population has been vaccinated since the state's rollout plan started in mid-December.
The state has partnered with the Missouri National Guard to host mass vaccination clinics to speed up the process.
Some mass vaccination clinics scheduled for this week have been canceled because of snow, ice and cold. The state had planned a mass vaccination clinic in partnership with Lake of the Ozarks-area health departments and Lake Regional Health System for Sunday at the School of the Osage. The clinic has been rescheduled for March 7.
