COVID-19 vaccinations could start next week in Sedgwick County; you might need to wait
Vaccinations for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could begin as early as next week in Sedgwick County, but it’s likely you’ll have to wait a while for your shots if you don’t fall into the highest-risk group, a county official reported Tuesday.
Some early doses will go straight to Wichita’s two main hospital systems — Wesley and Ascension Via Christi — to vaccinate the nurses, doctors and other medical personnel who are providing direct treatment to COVID-19 patients, Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman told the County Commission at a staff meeting Tuesday.
Other doses will be sent directly to commercial pharmacies contracted to distribute to nursing homes and long-term care facilities, where the risk of COVID-19 clusters has been the highest, Kaufman said. The elderly are especially susceptible to dying of COVID-19 if they get it.
Ongoing distribution schedules remain murky and likely to change — and already have.
The second round is expected to include “essential workers,” such as emergency medical technicians, firefighters and other first responders, along with meat-packing and grocery workers. Those 65 and older and younger people at high-medical risk will be in the third round, Gov. Laura Kelly said Friday.
“The (county) Health Department will likely not be one of the recipients of that initial round,” Kaufman said. “The general population is expected to begin receiving vaccinations in late spring.”
General public vaccinations will probably be distributed through large-scale vaccination clinics, like the ones that were operated by the county during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009-2010, he said.
Kaufman said the county will be ready when the time comes. “The Health Department has been planning for this vaccine for a number of months,” he said.
The county ordered cold-storage units in November to store the first vaccine expected, developed by the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. It has to be shipped in dry ice and kept at 94 degrees below zero in storage, according to the manufacturer.
It’s expected the Pfizer vaccine will receive final approval for distribution on an emergency basis after a federal hearing on Thursday, Kaufman said.
A second vaccine, made by the Moderna pharmaceutical company, is expected to receive the go-ahead Dec. 17. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, it doesn’t require ultra-cold storage, state officials said last week.
Gov. Laura Kelly announced last week that the initial shipments to Kansas are expected to include 150,000 doses.
Two doses over three weeks are needed for optimum protection.
Kelly initially said the first shipment would be enough for 75,000 people, but the governor’s office has since clarified that 150,000 Kansans will get their initial shots this month and the second doses in January will be provided from follow-up shipments, which are expected on a weekly basis once shipping starts.
The first dose provides about 50% to 70% immunity to the coronavirus, Kaufman said. The second dose acts as a booster to bring immunity up to what manufacturers project to be in the 90%-plus range.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 12:22 PM.
