COVID-19 Vaccine

Many mosques in the St. Louis region are planning limited celebrations during Ramadan — a month of fasting, prayer and reflection — to slow the spread of the coronavirus. They are offering virtual sermons, shorter nightly Quran readings and prepackaged meals to break the fast during an evening meal called iftar.

In the past week, children and teens 19 and younger have made up 22% of the city’s new coronavirus cases, said Dr. Fred Echols, acting director of the St. Louis Department of Health. That’s up more than 10 percentage points from what health officials have seen throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

An estimated 4.5 million Missouri residents are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The federally run clinic at the Dome at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis is offering second doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Missouri residents, with no appointment needed.

In-person classes, fans at sports games and living in the dorms will all return. But most colleges in the region are not planning to require COVID-19 vaccinations.

More than 23,000 veterans in the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Healthcare system have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 15,000 of them are fully vaccinated. VA officials say they expect to vaccinate 80% of veterans by late June. They credit the strong relationships doctors have with their patients.

The St. Louis region will host several vaccination events the next two weeks where residents can get their first COVID-19 vaccine dose. The large-scale sites can vaccinate thousands of people a day, but infectious disease specialists say they may not accommodate many of those most at risk of becoming sick from the coronavirus — people who work retail jobs, poor people and those with chronic health issues.

Workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Navy have arrived in downtown St. Louis to help vaccinate people against the coronavirus. State and local officials hope the two-month immunization event at the Dome at America’s Center will help fill the city’s “vaccination gap.” Nearly 28% of Missouri’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, only 19% of people in St. Louis have.

The Missouri health department has acknowledged that it has used national data to estimate Missouri’s racial breakdown, rather than data based on the state's population. That information has been a source of frustration for local health officials working to ensure that vaccine distribution is equitable. State officials now plan to use 2019 U.S. Census data from Missouri but say some parts of the data remain problematic.

Missouri is among the worst states in the nation in percentage of population vaccinated, but Gov. Mike Parson said that could turn around soon.