Some Feel Left Out of Vaccine Rollout

Some state lawmakers say key populations are feeling left out of the state’s coronavirus vaccine rollout. A House committee held a public hearing Wednesday to hear from state officials about Missouri ranking low in the rate at which citizens are getting vaccinated. Representative Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway (buck-height), a Republican from eastern Missouri’s Festus, says citizens in her rural district struggle to find a vaccine.

Missouri Health Department Director, Dr. Randall Williams, says the state is addressing the vaccine need in rural communities.

More than half of the state’s weekly doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be going to larger hospitals in each region of Missouri this month. Another 23 percent will go to mass vaccination events, and eight percent each will go to local public health departments, federally qualified health centers, and other community providers.