By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Mosaic Life Care encourages area residents to take advantage of the mass vaccination clinic at East Hills Mall, before it closes.
Mosaic Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Davin Turner, says the mass vaccination site in the old Gordman’s store will not stay open forever. In fact, it might be closing in the next couple of months as the number of people signing up for COVID-19 vaccines drops.
“And when we see the number of folks signing up decline even more, we will be looking at how do we transition that vaccination process to those pharmacies that have vaccination available to them,” Turner tells reporters during a news availability.
Turner says the clinic at East Hills has been running very smoothly.
The vaccine is given to Missouri residents or those who work in Missouri free of charge. It usually takes 25 minutes to go through the vaccination process, which includes the 15-minute wait after the vaccine is given.
Turner says the clinic will close when vaccination sign ups drop. He hopes more will take advantage of the clinic at East Hills.
“If you want your shot, you need to sign up, because again as the numbers dwindle and the numbers have really substantially dropped off of folks signing up to get the vaccine, we really want you to sign up so you can get your vaccine,” Turner says.
Turner says Mosaic is watching the numbers closely to determine when to close the clinic. Missouri recently opened vaccinations to Phase 2 after going through all three tiers of Phase 1. Phase 2 includes commercial facilities sector, critical manufacturing, construction, financial services, and sector two of food and agriculture among others. Turner expects the state to open vaccinations to all Missourians soon, likely before the scheduled April 9th date.
A date will be chosen to provide the last of the first doses at the East Hills Mall clinic. Once the clinic no longer gives first doses, it will close within four to five weeks after everyone who received the first shot of Pfizer of Moderna vaccine has time to get their second shot.
Turner urges residents not to put it off.
“You have the ability to sign up now,” Turner points out. “Even if your tier is not open. So, we encourage those folks to sign up so that we know what volume we’re going to have.”
Residents can click here for the Mosaic Life Care website and register.
Mosaic has administered the first dose of vaccine to 15,508 residents at the St. Joseph site with 7,753 residents receiving their second shot as of last week. Mosaic has given 3,501 first doses at its Maryville location as of last week with 2,317 receiving their second shot.
