KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new state pharmacy plan in Missouri will mean 161 local pharmacies will start receiving 15% of the state's COVID-19 vaccine doses this week.
Gov. Mike Parson announced the plan last Thursday during a briefing.
Selected pharmacies have the ability to administer 200 doses of vaccine per week and will receive that amount in addition to booster doses for the next three to four weeks.
Auburn Pharmacy, located inside Price Chopper at 16611 E 23rd St. S, Independence, Missouri, is one of the selected pharmacies.
Registered Pharmacist Carla Harold said she learned Monday morning that the location will not receive the doses for another two weeks or so but is working on getting ready for when they arrive.
"We've got the refrigerator ready, the freezer ready, the paperwork ready," Harold said. "We can't do anything until we get the actual vaccine but we're ready to go, and when we get it we will start calling the people on our list based on which level they are."
Harold said she isn't sure what brand of vaccine the business will receive, but she's discouraging "vaccine shopping."
"Get the shot. It doesn't matter which one it is," Harold said. "You're better to just go ahead and get it and go with the flow and we can get everybody immunized and possibly get back to normal this year."
Once vaccines arrive, Harold said the pharmacy will do appointment-only vaccinations.
The pharmacy has sign ups available on its website.
"Our hope is to get our customers in and out and get everybody vaccinated ASAP," Harold said.
In Kansas City, Missouri, Spalitto's Pharmacy began giving out doses last week as part of the federal retail pharmacy program already in place.
Owner Pete Spalitto said the fourth-generation, family-owned business is relatively new to vaccines, but he enjoys the personal interaction it brings with customers.
"It's encouraging, I mean there were tears in people's eyes on Thursday," Spalitto said. "I got a lot out of that myself personally to see everyone's reactions and questions they had."
The pharmacy received 100 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week and is expecting 100 doses of Moderna Tuesday.
Spalitto plans to do an appointment-only basis primarily on Thursdays for the time being.
"We've got a lot of people on the waiting list we're trying to get to, and we're a smaller place, but we're trying to pay close attention to our regular customers first that have been coming here, and then if we have to go after hours or on weekends we'll address that at that point," Spalitto said.
Spalitto said along with the access pharmacies provide, another benefit is one-on-one conversation with customers. He's been able to share information about other vaccines like shingles.
"You can actually educate people about some of the other vaccines that are out there besides COVID while you're doing the COVID," Spalitto said.
The pharmacy has a wait list available on its website.
