Over the past week, new tiers of Missouri’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan have been activated, making an additional 2.5 million Missourians eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. However, supplies are lagging behind demand.

Governor Mike Parson attributed the limited vaccine supply to the slow distribution rate of vaccines. The state is still getting 76,000 doses delivered for this week and the same amount by the end of next week. Parson told Missourians they need to be patient.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams maintained that the limiting factor in getting vaccines to Missourians is the amount getting delivered.

The state currently reports 265,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered. That is less than half the amount the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports have been sent to Missouri. Some of those doses could still be on their way here, and facilities have 10 days to report the vaccines they have administered in a given day.