Teachers, childcare providers, employees of food processing plants and other critical infrastructure workers will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine starting March 15, Gov. Mike Parson announced Thursday.
Activating the next phase — Tier 3 of Phase 1B — follows the state’s priority to save lives, Parson said.
“This is exactly why we started with our healthcare workers, our first responders and our most vulnerable population. Tier three represents another very important part of our society,” Parson said. “They are the workers in many of the industries we depend on each day to keep our day-to-day lives operating normally.”
Parson’s announcement comes days after the state health officials told vaccine providers to begin to prepare for expanded eligibility and follows growing calls in recent weeks for educators to be made eligible now.