Missouri launches vaccine site, adding to sign up options. Will it confuse or help?
Clinton County resident Denise Milstead is eager to get her husband, who has congestive heart failure, and her 85-year-old mother a COVID-19 vaccine. They had both provided information to their local health department and were waiting their turn.
Then they got a text earlier this week. They would have to sign up again.
On Monday, Missouri launched a statewide program, called Vaccine Navigator, for residents interested in getting the vaccine. Provide your name, age and other information, such as underlying health conditions, and Missouri will notify you when you’re eligible for a vaccine and direct you to nearby vaccination sites.
But it remains unclear whether the program will ultimately replace most county registries or supplement existing county lists. It is also unclear whether the state’s system will notify residents of vaccine availability in local health departments, in addition to nearby hospitals and mass vaccination events.
The rollout has led to frustration and confusion in some areas about the exact process for securing a shot. Some local officials are trying to determine how they’ll use the navigator, while others are warmly greeting its arrival, saying it will help overburdened employees.
After the navigator went live, the health department in Clinton County, just north of the Kansas City area, said it would begin using the program instead of maintaining its own list. But the names it previously collected can’t be moved over to the navigator, meaning everyone must submit their information again, this time on the navigator.
“We got this text message basically saying that they were no longer going to be keeping a list,” Milstead said.
Milstead voiced concerns with apparent unevenness in the vaccine rollout across the state, saying her sister in Nixa had already been contacted for an appointment. “It seems to be really hit or miss,” she said.
Missouri says more than 546,000 people have received their first dose, or about 9% of the population. But as of Tuesday, it was one of only three states (with Kansas and Alabama) that had yet to achieve 9,000 doses administered per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Missouri officials have blamed data reporting delays for the state’s poor showing in CDC reports.
Over the past several weeks, numerous counties have launched their own vaccine databases. Jackson County urges residents and those who work in the county to sign up using a survey. Clay County asks residents to fill out a vaccination interest form. The Kansas City Health Department also uses a similar system.
Although the local health databases have different names, in effect they gather the names of people who want a vaccine and the information needed to contact them when shots are available.
The navigator does essentially the same thing, and also registers individuals for shots or provides information about scheduling an appointment later.
“This tool may not capture every event in your area, so we encourage you to engage with your local public health officials and health care facilities to learn more,” the navigator site says.
When the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the navigator on Monday, it gave no guidance about whether people should sign up on both the navigator and with their county. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson appeared to signal that the state will distribute doses based at least partly on information submitted to the navigator.
“Although vaccine supply nationwide is still quite limited, this registration process will help connect Missourians with more avenues to receive a vaccine,” Parson said in a Monday statement. “This will not only provide support for Missouri citizens but also help our team determine where the greatest demands for vaccines exist throughout the state.”
The Kansas City Health Department said it hasn’t decided how to use the state’s list alongside its own.
“What we are advising residents is, get their name on as many lists as possible,” spokesman Bill Snook said. “It’s all based on vaccine distribution and supply.”
Spokespersons for the Jackson County Health Department and the Clay County Health Department didn’t respond to questions on Tuesday.
Sara Humm, a spokeswoman for Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, said the navigator may help if there’s a mass vaccination event, but indicated the agency is still gathering information.
“The state’s system is new to us as well so we’re trying to learn more about it and the functionality,” Humm said in an email.
But the Clinton County Health Department, which told residents it would discontinue its own list, is embracing the navigator. Health Department Administrator Blair Shock said people from all over, even out of state, were signing up on the county’s list. The agency only has 11 employees, limiting its ability to field calls and schedule appointments, however.
The navigator has a 24-7 hotline, something that Clinton County lacks, he said, adding that the navigator will be especially helpful as his department prepares to hold a 2,000-dose clinic this weekend.
“It makes the entire process paperless and alleviates a pretty big lift in terms of data entry on the back side of these large clinics,” Shock said. “It’s really in everybody’s best interest, in our opinion, to push the public to this.”
Many small counties will begin relying on the navigator, Shock predicted.
Kansas City Rep. Ingrid Burnett said she put herself on vaccine lists for both Jackson County and the Kansas City Health Department, but never received a response. When the state’s navigator website launched, she registered there, too, and was told she could get a vaccine at a site in Sedalia, which she said was too far away. Those time-slots filled up quickly.
“I haven’t heard from anybody who’s heard back from the county or the city at all,” Burnett, a Democrat and the House Minority Caucus Chair, said. “They just entered their information in the hopes that one day they would get notice.”
Two weeks ago, Jackson County health officials said they had not received any of the weekly vaccine doses they requested from the state.
Burnett said confusion over the multiple sign-up lists, and over vaccine availability in each county, indicates a “chaotic and disappointing” pandemic response from the Parson administration. On Tuesday evening, Burnett said she received an email from Kansas City to sign up for an appointment with the city’s health department.
Burnett said she’s yet to see “a strategic approach as to where the state is, where state oversight begins and where local control takes over.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 5:27 PM.
