This Memorial Day weekend is your last shot at getting a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Dome at America’s Center.
For the past eight weeks, workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Navy have operated the mass vaccination site in downtown St. Louis. It’s intended to boost vaccination rates in the city, but it’s open to all residents in the St. Louis metro area.
The site is open every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. until it closes June 1. Walk-ins are accepted. If you want to schedule an appointment in advance go to MoStopsCOVID.com or call 877-435-8411.
Officials at the site are administering both the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine and the Pfizer two-dose vaccine. For people who are getting their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this weekend, medical personnel will give out second dose appointment directions, because the site will close permanently on Tuesday.
The site administers shots to people 12 and up, and no ID or proof of insurance is required. Free parking is available at the lot at the intersection of Cole and North Sixth streets.
FEMA’s operation has the capacity to give out 3,000 doses a day, but demand has averaged around 800 doses a day since opening in April.
In total, the site has administered a little more than 42,000 doses as of Thursday night. That’s around 25% of the doses officials had prepared to give out.
It was hard to gauge demand at first, FEMA spokesperson Barb Sturner said.
“Very quickly we shifted our focus from ‘We need to do 3,000 a day’ to ‘We need to do as many shots as we can every day,’” she said.
As the site wraps up operations, Sturner said she’s thrilled with the number of doses administered because “every shot has the potential to save one life or more.”
Around 28% of St. Louis residents are fully vaccinated, according to state data. Both St. Louis County and St. Charles County have higher vaccination rates at 36% and 37% respectively. Jefferson County has one of the lowest rates in the metro area at 25%.
In Illinois, nearly 37% of residents in Madison County are fully vaccinated, while 35% of residents in St. Clair are.
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