FESTUS, Mo. (KMOX) - Demand was soft at a mass vaccination clinic here, capable of handling as many as 1,400 people a day. But by lunchtime only about 400 had signed up for the "appointment only" event at the old Shop n Save building off Bauman Road.
So they switched it to a "walk-right-in" clinic for the rest of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday's shots were the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Tuesday and Wednesday it's the Moderna vaccine. The clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Clinic spokesperson Brianne Zweiner says anyone 18 and older can show up without an appointment. Asked why so few showed up Monday, she thinks many have already had the shot elsewhere.
"They've either travelled to--I've heard--Potosi a lot, I've heard Columbia, a handful of folks have said they went up to St. Charles or St. Louis," Zweiner said.
Among those happy to have got their shot in Festus Monday, Garret Schmitt.
"Well, I'm only 21 and my main thing I wanted to do was make sure I was vaccinated to be able to see my grandparents," Schmitt said.
Husband and wife Mitch and Brenda Watz arriving in a shiny red antique pickup truck also got their shots Monday in Festus.
"My Dad lives with us. He's 83. So we don't want to get him sick," Mitch said.
"I'm glad to get it over with," Brenda said, "Makes you feel a little safer."
While hundreds got their shots Monday and many more are expected to get vaccinated Tuesday and Wednesday, KMOX found a few folks around Festus expressing their doubts of the Covid 19 vaccines.
In the parking lot of a popular burger restaurant on Main Street, Angie Cook was waiting for her lunch when asked about the shot.
"Well, I don't plan on getting one, because it got done too quick. Nine months is not long enough, and it's not FDA approved," Cook said.
The FDA has not granted the vaccines full approval, but has given them "emergency use authorization."
"I never received a flu shot, so I probably won't get this either," Cook said.
Another Festus burger customer cited a different reason for her reluctance to get the shot.
"I had Covid in December," said Debra Zeiter, "and was hospitalized. So I'm really not sure if I want to get the vaccine. I feel like I do have the antibodies."
The website "Missouri Vaccine Tracker" reports statewide about 32% of the population has had at least one doses , and about 21% have been fully vaccinated.
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