All adults eligible for COVID vaccine Friday

AP File

Starting Friday all adults in Missouri will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

“The next tier, opens up to everybody at 18 and older for the Moderna (vaccine) and 16 and older for Pfizer,” Butler County Health Department Administrator Emily Goodin announced at the weekly briefing Wednesday.

Goodin said Butler County had 45 new COVID-19 cases confirmed this week, bringing the county’s total cases to 4,428. Currently, 37 active cases are in the county.

Goodin reminded the group the number of positive cases “goes back to the very beginning, that’s March 2020.”

“We’ll be continuing to do those clinics as vaccine becomes available to the health department. We are working with the National Guard hopefully on getting another clinic. Not a mass 2,000-dose clinic (but) somewhere in the middle. We’re hoping to do 1,000 doses in April. We’re still talking to the guard and we’ll let everybody know.”

The amount of vaccine made available “is supply and demand,” Goodin said. Even with all the tiers opening “the demand is not high because everybody eligible to be vaccinated has gotten vaccinated. Currently, there is a lot of vaccine out there (and) not just to the health department. Unfortunately, even though all the tiers are opening up, it doesn’t mean that we will get an increase in the supply of vaccines. It’s how quickly they’re pushing out the vaccine at the federal level to the states.”

The state has to divide the vaccines among not only the health departments but the hospitals and other agencies.

“I don’t know if we’ll get an increase in supply,” Goodin said. “I hope so, but like I said, I just don’t know.”

The health department is continuing rapid testing at the center by appointment.

“We have seen a decrease in people wanting to be tested,” Goodin said. “We have moved our testing date to one day a week on Wednesday. The scheduling link is on our website and Facebook page. That’s the rapid machine so they’ll get their test results within 15 minutes.”

Goodin said, “we are still doing our own clinic at the health department as vaccine becomes available and delivered to the health department. We are doing clinics based on the tiers.”

Boys and Girls Club Director Chris Rushin said, “We had our highest total of the entire school year yesterday. We had 420 kids come to one of our seven different sites. We are very excited. We’re pumping right along. We’re getting ready for summer.”

Summer registration will begin on the club’s website bgpb.org “sharply at noon Friday,” Rushin said. “It’s on a first-come, first-serve basis. We’ll run it exactly the same way as we did last year. We will have after school programming during R-I summer school and will then open up immediately after school. It’ll look almost identical with the regular school year.”

Rushin said summer sessions will be held in June and July.

“There are breaks in between those two summer school sessions and we will provide all day camp,” he said. “All of those dates are supplied online at bgpb.org.”

State officials, along with local public health experts, want to let consumers know what to expect once they’ve booked their vaccine appointment and the best practices they can keep in mind as they prepare.

So far, 27.9% of Missourians have initiated their vaccination, and 17.2% have completed their vaccination.

By registering through the Missouri Vaccine Navigator, local public health departments and care providers can help Missourians stay informed of vaccination updates and available appointments in their area. 

To help the process go as smoothly as possible, Missourians are encouraged to follow some do’s and don’ts as they head into their appointments.

• Do familiarize yourself with the site layout and directions ahead of time, if possible.

• Do bring some form ID and confirmation of your appointment.

• Acceptable forms of ID include your state ID, driver’s license or vaccine navigator ID.

• You can pull your appointment confirmation email up on your phone or print it in advance.

• Do arrive 10 to 15 minutes early, so you can find the entrance, check-in table and vaccine line.

• Do wear a mask, social distance and disinfect or wash your hands after touching shared surfaces.

• Do write down the details of your second scheduled shot (if applicable) before you leave.

• You’ll need to return to the same vaccination site.

• Do let the vaccine clinic or site know in advance if you need to cancel your appointment, so they can schedule someone else to take your spot for you.

• Don’t show up at a vaccination site without an appointment (unless walk-ins are welcome).

• Don’t show up for someone else’s scheduled vaccine appointment in their place.

• Don’t send someone else to your scheduled vaccine appointment in your place.

• Don’t bring extra or unscheduled people to your vaccine appointment.