In the scramble to roll out the largest vaccine program since polio, and with supplies still limited, the state’s vacillating directives are leaving local providers tasked with carrying out the state’s plan unclear as to how to do so.
The county health department’s last vaccine shipment from the state was Jan. 19. The shortage doesn’t affect people waiting for their second doses, but it could stop the county from scheduling appointments for patients seeking the first shot.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force and St. Louis County are collaborating with SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to as many as 4,000 area first responders.
Under the agreement, first responders in the St. Louis County area – including St. Louis County police and fire personnel as well as county-based federal law enforcement employees – started receiving vaccinations at the hospital Monday morning.
The partnership could vaccinate up to 4,000 first responders, a St. Louis County Department of Public Health spokeswoman said Monday. More than 650 first responders had already made appointments by the time the partnership was announced Wednesday, filling the first three days in the schedule.
St. Louis County’s first mass vaccination site, at the Florissant Valley campus of St. Louis Community College in Ferguson, is expected to open for public vaccinations Wednesday. The county conducted a “soft opening” of the mass vaccination site Tuesday, administering the vaccine to eligible county employees ahead of vaccinations for the public the following day..