Feb 17, 2021

Mass COVID-19 vaccines cancelled across the state of Missouri

Posted Feb 17, 2021 2:00 PM

By WHITNEE ICE

St. Joseph Post

Around 5 o’clock last night, health departments across the state of Missouri received an email from Governor Mike Parson stating all COVID-19 vaccination events in partnership with the Missouri National Guard, Department of Health and Senior Services, and State Emergency Management Agency scheduled for this week are cancelled due to severe weather.

This came as quite a surprise to Administrator Andrew Hoffman for the Andrew County Health Department. . .

"We had planned for these types of weather conditions and we had been looking at the possibility of maybe needing to reschedule some here and there but a total stop to all of them across the state was a surprise," says Hoffman to St. Joseph Post.

Hoffman says the Governors email did not clearly state why the weather caused the vaccine clinics to be cancelled.

"I would imagine that their statement that it was due to weather is probably fairly broad. It's probably a combination of getting the vaccine where it needs to go," says Hoffman. "There's a lot of weather events in the southern part of the United States that may inhibit the transportation of the vaccine and it's also partly related I'm sure to the harsh conditions that we're all being exposed to with the weather conditions. Again, I can't speak for the Governer but I would imagine that there's probably a couple fronts on that weather that's affecting all of this."

Hoffman says they can't schedule the next vaccine days until they know when they are getting the next vaccine shipment.

"We don't want to schedule anything without the assurance that the vaccine is going to be in our hands so that we can give it to community members. That's the first thing we have to nail down, is when are we getting our vaccine shipment? Then at that point we'll have to look at dates and there's a lot of volunteers and there's a lot of community partners that it takes to set up a big event like that," says Hoffman.

Residents are showing their concern and worry about the vaccine clinic cancellations.

"Before seven o'clock this morning I already had emails that were coming in and phone calls started," says Hoffman. "People are a little bit confused by the governors actions, they wanted confirmation that yes our event has been cancelled so we're taking a lot of phone calls on that."

Hoffman wants to reassure residents that the Andrew County Health Department is working hard to get the vaccine out to the community.

"We've been working hard for this entire year trying to deal with COVID-19 and help our community through this and it's not changed. We are still working very long hours. We're working very hard trying to make sure our community is going to be taken care of, so people just need to rest assured that we're doing the best that we can to make sure that their second doses are available and that we'll have future doses for initial and secondary doses," says Hoffman.

As of right now, they do not know when the clinics will be rescheduled. To stay up to date, sign up on vaccine navigator for the latest notifications on clinic availability.