The first day of mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Moniteau County was going well as of midday Tuesday.
The event, hosted in partnership with the Moniteau County Health Center, Missouri National Guard, Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and Moniteau County 911/Emergency Management, had seen around 300 individuals vaccinated at California's United Church of Christ so far by just before noon.
"It's been a steady stream of people coming in," Health Center administrator Andrea Kincaid said yesterday afternoon. "We're handling both scheduled people and walk-ins."
Of the 300 that had been vaccinated so far, Kincaid said 122 were eligible walk-ins.
Organizers have the capacity to administer approximately 1,100 doses each day of the event, according to a social media update Tuesday morning from the Health Center. Kincaid said this averages out to a capacity for administering more than 130 vaccines per hour. However, Kincaid said she didn't foresee as many as 1,100 doses being administered during either day of the event; she said facilitators were being conservative about how many doses are thawed at one time in an effort to prevent wastage.
During the second day of the event, community members who have not registered but still wish to receive a COVID-19 vaccine can come to United Church of Christ before 5 p.m., avoiding the time period between 2:15-3:15 p.m. so as to not conflict with school traffic nearby, per the Health Center's Tuesday social media post. While walk-ins are accepted, registering ahead of time will expedite the process; otherwise, the process may take an additional 20 minutes.
Any Missouri resident interested in receiving a vaccine should get registered with the state of Missouri's COVID-19 vaccine navigator, Kincaid said. Outside of this week's mass vaccination events, she said doing so will help the new crops of eligible Missourians under the state's phased eligibility plan - such as government workers, the homeless and others whose eligibility opened up as Phase 2 activated Monday - to stay on top of where vaccinations are being offered. All Missourians will be eligible to receive vaccinations starting April 9.
"That'll be an important resource to get your vaccine," Kincaid said. "So many places are utilizing the vaccine navigator, so you're going to see a lot of opportunities for vaccination once you're in that system."
Those interested in signing up should visit covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator or call 877-435-8411. Once registered with the state's vaccine navigator, registrants be notified via email or text message when the event is finalized to complete registration.
Vaccinations will be given in accordance with Missouri's phased roll-out plan. To check eligibility, visit covidvaccine.mo.gov/residents.