Missouri moving to next vaccination group March 15

An additional 550,000 Missourians will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine on March 15, Gov. Mike Parson announced Thursday.

The next level — Phase 1b, Tier 3 — vaccinates "critical infrastructure," including teachers, child care workers, government officials, food and agriculture employees, energy employees and more. More information about Tier 3 eligibility can be found on the state's vaccine website.

With the move to Tier 3, state officials estimate that over 3.5 million Missourians will be eligible to be vaccinated, in total. As of Thursday afternoon, 756,334 people had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Missouri's vaccination dashboard.

Parson said a recent study from the Missouri Hospital Association found that roughly 40% of Missourians are unlikely to seek out the vaccine.

"Part of why we are activating Tier 3 on March 15 is to make sure that there is a steady flow of people who are eligible and interested in getting vaccinated," Parson said. "This allows the vaccinators across the state to continue vaccinating Missourians without having to wait on those who don't want one."

Parson said an estimated 800,000 Missourians are currently eligible for and interested in receiving the vaccine. He anticipates that the state will vaccinate over 400,000 people by March 15.

Baumstark said roughly 700 of the district's 3,000 employees met the criteria for previous tiers and have already been vaccinated. As soon as doses are available for the next tier, Baumstark said, CPS is prepared to facilitate the vaccination of all school employees.

 

 

The CPS Board of Education meets March 8 and is expected to discuss the new vaccination tier.Announcing the new tier early allows hospitals and other vaccinators to prepare for an influx of people who want to receive the vaccine.

"For now, we ask that vaccinators work in their communities to plan for March 15," Parson said. "We want this to be a smooth process, and it will be up to vaccinators to start planning now so that Tier 3 populations are ready."

Parson said he expects to activate Phase 2 within 45 days of March 15.

 

 

State continues to receive vaccines

Parson said Missouri was allotted over 120,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week, along with over 128,500 doses for next week.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected to be granted an Emergency Use Authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration as early as Friday. Once approved by the state health department, Parson said he expects the state will be able to order the Johnson & Johnson vaccine early next week.

Parson said he expects to receive around 50,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Additionally, roughly 233,600 vaccine doses have been shipped to CVS and Walgreens locations across the state, as well as 38,990 doses for Walmart, Healthmart and Hy-Vee.

 

 

Here is a list of those included in the next vaccine tier:

-K-12 educators

-Childcare

-Communications Infrastructure

-Dams Sector

-Energy Sector

-Food & Agriculture Sector 1

-Government

-Information Technology

-Nuclear Reactor Sector

-Transportation Systems

-Water and Wastewater Systems.