COVID-19 vaccine making its way to Missouri as soon as Monday
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
After Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use on Friday, vials are already heading to Missouri.
Under the state's vaccine plan, nursing home workers and residents get priority, followed by health-care workers frequently exposed to the virus and people at high risk of the worse complications of COVID-19.
The first shipments left the Pfizer plant in Michigan Sunday morning. A total of 189 boxes of vials are expected to arrive in all 50 states Monday. Another 400 boxes packed with about 390,000 vials are expected to ship Monday and arrive at their destinations on Tuesday.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says 51,675 doses are heading to the state in the first shipment. Dr. Randall Williams said they expect the first vaccines to be administered in Missouri on Thursday.
The state is also expected another shipment of 61,000 to come during the week of Dec. 20.
For the about 300,000 health care workers in the first phase, Williams said they will first start to focus on large institutions with the Pfizer vaccine.He said for smaller health care providers in more rural areas of the state will likely get their vaccine in early January.
"We are really trying to get it out to our hospital institutions in the month of January, but it won't be a cliff," Williams said, "We won't get all of our health care providers in January, but a large amount and certainly those in the critical situations taking care of COVID patients."
Missouri expects another 105,000 doses of a vaccine from Moderna the week of Dec. 20 if it wins approval, Williams said. The Moderna vaccine will be used for nursing home residents because it doesn't require the super-cold storage the Pfizer vaccine does.
Williams said the doses will provide an initial shot for most of the state's 58,0000 nursing home residents. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each require two shots administered weeks apart.
The first doses will go to workers in nursing homes and be administered by Walgreens and CVS pharmacies under government contracts.
University of Missouri Health Care officials held an online news conference Friday to discuss plans for distributing the vaccine. Dr. Laura Morris said MU Health's first doses will go to workers who have the most direct contact with COVID-19 patients and employees will be in tiers based on their level of virus exposure.
MU Health has drawn up multiple plans to be ready for varying numbers of doses and a yet-to-be-defined timeline, Morris said. The vaccine will not be mandatory for MU Health employees.
Veterans Affairs announced Thursday that Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital in Columbia is one of 37 VA sites receiving the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Those doses will go to long-term care residents at the hospital and health-care workers, according to a hospital news release.
St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City plans to start vaccinating workers with frequent patient contact next week, Dr. Lenora Adams said on a Friday conference call with Cole County leaders.
