ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson sent a letter to Missouri Governor Mike Parson and Health Director Dr. Randall Williams regarding COVID-19 vaccine supply in the city.
The letter comes after a new program was announced by Gov. Parson and Dr. Williams on Thursday where some Walmart pharmacy locations will begin offering the vaccine. The program is run through the federal government.
On Thursday, Dr. Williams said the goal is to get the vaccine into underserved communities. The sites will still follow Missouri's distribution plan for who qualifies to receive the vaccine right now.
The program is set to begin on Feb. 11.
“The State of Missouri has designated two pharmacy chains with which to partner on distributing the vaccine to its residents. These two partners have been identified as Walmart and Health Mart pharmacies,” Krewson’s letter stated.
“Currently there are no Walmart stores within the City of St. Louis and only three Health Mart pharmacies, which combined not have the capacity to vaccinate the qualified population of the City of St. Louis.”
According to the letter, Krewson is requesting the state allows both CVS and Walgreens pharmacies in the City of St. Louis to become approved vaccinator sites. She said this would be through direct shipments to the pharmacies through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program announced by President Joe Biden or through an approved transfer of the city’s doses.
According to Missouri’s vaccine dashboard, as of Feb 5., 6.2% of the City of St. Louis’ population has received the first dose of the vaccine.