ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - When it comes to mandating that everyone receive a COVID-19 vaccine or needing to show proof of vaccination to travel and attend events, Gov. Mike Parson says it won't happen in Missouri.
He was in St. Louis on Monday to tour the new – largest in the state – mass vaccination program that's set to begin putting needles in arms on Wednesday. The eight-week program plans to administer 3,000 doses each day, seven days a week for a total of about 168,000 doses.
Parson "encourages" everyone to get the vaccine – but won't try to force it.
He was asked if people should be required to have digital vaccine passports to attend large crowd events.
"If you're talking about mandating a vaccine passport I'm not in favor of that at all for the state of Missouri," Parson says. "That'll never happen, I won't make that kind of mandate."
It appears the federal government will also not be mandating vaccine passports for, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci who said "I doubt that the federal government will be the main mover of a vaccine passport concept. They may be involved in making sure things are done fairly and equitably, but I doubt if the federal government is going to be the leading element of that."
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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is helping to run the new mass vaccination program and a regional spokesman says they're "concerned" by low enrollment for the event. Parson admits demand may be cooling down and the state may have to move toward a marketing campaign by the end of April to win over the holdouts.
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