Jefferson City hospitals receive extra coronavirus vaccine doses Tuesday, plans to redistribute across the community

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two Jefferson City hospitals were put on the list to receive extra doses of the coronavirus vaccine, which were received on Tuesday.

A list of hospitals from each region of the state were selected to receive a little over half of Missouri's allocation, hoping to reduce the burden on individual organizations and extend the geographic reach of vaccination effort. 

SSM Health St. Mary's and Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City were both on the list for this week's distribution.

The allocations for each selected hospital is proportional to the regional population, according to the state. Weekly vaccine delivery from the federal allocation will rotate between the groups of identified hospitals.

Last week, MU Health Care was the hospital selected in Mid-Missouri's region.

The announcement of this change in distribution came last week, the State's health department saying the selected hospitals in each region of the state were identified as having the capability to administer 5,000 vaccines per week.

The Director of Pharmacy Services for Capitol Region Denny Hamilton said they received 1,000 doses of the vaccine.

"We're excited now that we are on the list to get more vaccine, but we are a little bit disappointed the fact that we are only getting it every two weeks," Hamilton said.

CRCM will be holding another mass vaccination event to get out those doses, as well as redistributing some to local health departments, and other health providers in the region.

"We've developed a cohesive group of health departments, other vaccine administrators in central Missouri and have had discussions with them as to really what they feel like they could use in terms of vaccine," Hamilton said.

The hospital has weekly calls with those partners to determine where to redistribute some of its doses.

Hamilton said he's heard some good news about the potential of small increase in doses coming to the state. He's also encouraged by the news of retail pharmacies like Walmart beginning to distribute doses, saying it can help alleviate "vaccine deserts."

"Having a vaccinator close to home prevents those folks from to having to travel until we can get the vaccine in the local clinics," Hamilton said.

SSM Health St. Mary's Spokeswoman Jessica Royston said it recieved 2,000 doses to redistribute Tuesday.

SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital is proud to serve as a depot for vaccine distribution. We received 2,000 doses of Moderna vaccine today on behalf of Region F. St. Mary’s Hospital will redistribute doses throughout Region F as determined by the Region F Implementation Team. This includes vaccine for other hospitals and health departments. St. Mary’s Hospital will retain a number of doses for use in vaccinating our employees and patients in our primary care clinics. All doses are required to be given within 7 days.

Jessica Royston, SSM Health St. Mary's

A spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association Dave Dillon said redistribution of the vaccine from hospitals was one thing Governor Parson's Administration pushed for with this new system.

"Frankly, hospitals have been at 100 percent effort for almost a year, so any additional hands that we can get in this space is good," Dillon said. "The more hands, the faster the work."

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