Donald Kauerauf
On Wednesday, Governor Mike Parson addressed the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state, fueled by the Delta variant, by announcing an incentive to encourage vaccinations against the virus.
Vaccines for COVID-19—which are safe and effective—have been available to all adults in Missouri since April 9. Currently, only 57 percent of Missouri's population ages 18 and over has initiated vaccination; almost 50 percent have completed vaccination. Those numbers are lower in St. Louis. Forty-four percent of county residents have completed vaccination; 34 percent of city residents have been doubly vaccinated.
"We encourage all Missourians to consider getting vaccinated as almost all new COVID hospitalizations can be attributed to unvaccinated individuals," Parson said.
The new incentive program, dubbed the Missouri VIP campaign, will reward those who receive the vaccine with the chance to win $10,000. The lottery will begin August 13, and winners will be drawn every two weeks until October 8. The entries will be divided into three categories: red, white, and blue.
- The red pool will include Missourians ages 18 and older who receive at least one dose of the vaccine after Wednesday.
- The white category includes Missourians ages 18 and older who received at least one dose of the vaccine before Wednesday.
- The blue category includes Missourians ages 12–17 who receive at least one dose of the vaccine at any time.
Combined, the prizes will total $9 million and will be funded by a combination of state and federal money. To design the vaccine incentive program, the state surveyed other states and health care experts that initiated incentive programs. The Missouri Lottery will conduct the drawings.
When asked about outcomes, the governor said that there is no projection, but "it's another tool that we have on the table we can use. Some states, this has worked; some states it just hasn't. ... We're gonna have everything on the table, see if it works, but we're going to analyze that every week, every day as we move forward to see if this is working."
Parson also announced the next director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, Donald Kauerauf. The former DHSS director, Dr. Randall Williams, resigned in April. Kauerauf started his career 1987 with Illinois Emergency Management Agency, went to the Illinois Department of Public Health in 1994, transferred back to the EMA in 2003, and landed at the department of public health in 2016, where he served as assistant director. While at the department of public health, he crafted an emergency preparedness system. He also served as the chair of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked if he would have done anything differently in terms of the state's response to COVID-19, Kauerauf said that Missouri has followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and "this all comes back to, People need to get vaccinated. It's a clear answer. People need to get vaccinated. If you don't understand the vaccine or if you need additional information, seek your medical provider, seek your health authority."
Parson's press conference comes one day after the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force issued an urgent advisory that residents should continue to wear masks in public regardless of their vaccination status. City and county officials also released a joint statement on Tuesday that urged mask-wearing, citing a continued rise in the number of new daily cases, a regional positivity rate of 10 percent, and a hotspot of the virus in southwest Missouri that is moving northeast towards St. Louis.
"Our region is watching national news and trends very carefully and have paid attention to the mask mandates that have been initiated by other local jurisdictions," the release stated. "While we do not have an announcement to make today, this is a topic of conversation."
Also on Tuesday, city and county officials stated that the city has seen an increase in new COVID-19 cases across every ZIP code and that African-Americans have made up up 80 percent of newly reported cases since May.
On Wednesday, County Executive Dr. Sam Page held a press conference in which he expressed concern over the number of new COVID-19 cases, as well as the disparity in vaccinations. He cited data from a Saint Louis University analysis that revealed only 16 percent of Black teenagers have started the vaccination process, compared to 47 percent of white teens. The ZIP codes with the highest case counts are located in North County. The county is planning to launch a new campaign around vaccine safety "in the coming days."
You can watch the governor's announcement below:
