JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri will begin vaccinating essential workers in just under a few weeks. However, people are wondering how the state can ensure people aren’t jumping ahead of their designated tier?
“So when they sign up to get their vaccine, they attest to where they fit in,” said Doctor Randall Williams, the Department of Health and Senior Services director. “So we go on to that attestation. So, it’s an honor system. The vast, vast majority of Missourians are doing the right thing. I just don’t see that being a huge problem. To Our great credit, missourians have a fundamental sense of doing the right thing when it comes to this type of thing.”
Another big topic on vaccinating essential workers is getting the vaccine to teachers first.
Randall said said the state is not giving teachers more priority than other essential workers.
Instead, the state will allow vaccinators like hospitals and pharnacies to choose how much vaccine they can use for teachers.
“It’s perfectly okay for a local health department or a local hospital to work out an arrangement with a group to say on this day we’re going to use a fourth of our vaccine to vaccinate teachers,” said Williams. “We are sticking with our tiers for teachers and food workers and agriculture to the 15th.”
Randall said in Missouri everyone in the current tier is eligible for a vaccine and nobody takes precedence over others in your tier once you have been made eligible.
