Health dept. offers locations on COVID vaccines for children

A pharmacist prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at UC Davis Health.

(AP Photo/Noah Berger, Pool)

Butler County had 22 new cases of COVID-19 this week, with the total cases in the county at 4,549, local health department Director Emily Goodin announced Wednesday during the weekly COVID briefing. Currently there are 20 active cases.

“Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., we are working with the National Guard and all of our local partners one more time to do a clinic at the Elks Lodge, Highway 67 North here in Poplar Bluff,” Goodin said. “It’s going to be our second time going back to the Elks. It is a booster clinic, but we are opening up to those first-time doses as well. So if somebody needs a primary dose, they could go out there and get vaccinated. They’ll get their booster dose at the health department.”

The clinic will be for anyone 18 years of age or older who needs their first or second dose of the Moderna vaccine. No appointment is necessary.

“We’re doing weekly testing here at the health department,” Goodin said. “So our rapid tests are, by appointment, of course. There are those emergency cases where you just need to give us a call, but we urge you to go to our website, and our Facebook, to find that scheduling link.”

Goodin explained, health center staff are doing weekly clinics every Friday at the health department by appointment.

“Give us a call,” Goodin said. “We can go ahead and schedule you for a vaccine and it will be the Moderna vaccine.”

Goodin explained the health department is working closely with school officials for the summer school programs.

While those 12 years and older are now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, Goodin said, it is the Pfizer vaccine and, unfortunately, the health department only has Moderna and that comes down to an ordering issue.

“Unfortunately, the minimum allotment to order Pfizer is over 1,000 doses,” she said. “We’ve been getting a lot of calls on where they can get it. I know we have partnered with Dille’s Discount Pharmacy and Missouri Delta Medical Center in the past to take over some of our Pfizer vaccines. I would try reaching out to them first, to see if they have any. If not, let me know and I can point you in the right direction.”

Butler County Emergency Management Director Robbie Myers said, “we’ll be monitoring different things in the short term. We’ll reevaluate the briefings after we get out of May.”