Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

Missouri has given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine to about 262,000 people, or 4% of the state's 6 million residents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the lowest percentage of all 50 states, and at that pace, Missouri won’t fully vaccinate its population for years.

About 105,000 health care workers in Missouri have received their first dose of the two-shot vaccine. That’s about one-third of the state’s more than 350,000 patient-facing health care workers.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has approved the first coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in the United States. The federal government will begin shipping the vaccine to Missouri and other states within days. Public health officials have said a widely available vaccine will ultimately control the pandemic that has killed nearly 5,000 people across the state, overwhelmed hospitals and devastated businesses.

Missouri expects to receive the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine next week, state health officials said on Friday. The federal Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a vaccine from drug developer Pfizer. Missouri officials have said the immunizations are the key to bringing an end to the pandemic that has killed nearly 5,000 Missourians and sickened hundreds of thousands more. The state will initially receive 51,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Those doses will be used to vaccinate workers at select health care facilities.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services plans to send 340,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to essential health workers by the end of this month, Director Randall Williams said Friday afternoon. The federal government’s Operation Warp Speed likely will ship the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to the health department in the next few weeks, Williams said.

Missouri tops 4,000 deaths Tuesday as University of Kansas Health System officials say further restrictions may need to be enacted.

Gov. Mike Parson said hospital capacity is "becoming a problem," warns Missourians about family gatherings for the upcoming holidays.

The governor said students and teachers no longer need to quarantine if they were exposed to coronavirus and all parties were wearing masks.

Hospitals in the St. Louis region admitted nearly 100 coronavirus patients on Wednesday. It’s the second day in a row hospitals in the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force have set a record for daily admissions.

Fewer than 2% of people in Missouri who have tested positive for the virus died as of October, compared with more than 6% in May, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Doctors say younger people with healthier immune systems are getting sick.