JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Governor Mike Parson announced he is activating the National Guard to help with COVID-19 vaccines.
During Wednesday afternoon's briefing, Gov. Parson was joined by Missouri National Guard Adjutant General Major General Levon Cumpton and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams.
To help speed up the COVID-19 vaccine process, Gov. Parson announced a partnership between the Missouri National Guard, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and other state partners.
Gov. Parson said there will be a mass vaccination team assigned to each of the nine Missouri State Highway Patrol regions. Each region will have three sites, for a total of 27 mass vaccination locations.
Once the sites are up and running, Gov. Parson said the sites have the capability to provide up to 2,500 doses per day, per team.
There will also be two targeted vaccination teams heading to St. Louis and Kansas City to assist with the most vulnerable populations, Gov. Parson said.
The National Guard has started the process of securing the sites and will start administering vaccines by the end of this month, Gov. Parson said.
“We are proud to be a small part of the whole-of-government effort to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to our fellow Missourians," said Maj. Gen. Levon Cumpton. "This effort is truly a team effort, led by DHSS and consisting of multiple physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, local governments and others.”
Missouri is expected to receive 76,000 COVID-19 vaccines by the end of week and another 76,000 by the end of next week.
The state has administered 265,000 vaccines so far.
Missouri's positivity rate is currently at 12.4% which is down from 24.4% in November 2020.
In the past week alone, Missouri's positivity rate has fallen nearly 5%, Gov. Parson said during the briefing.