Sedgwick County prepares to start up a second COVID mass-vaccination clinic
As supplies of coronavirus vaccines and personnel to give the shots improve, Sedgwick County is planning to start a second mass-vaccination clinic, officials said Tuesday.
The new clinic is projected to start on a three-day-a-week basis and would allow the county to give about an additional 4,500 shots a week, said Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman.
He said the second site will be possible because Kansas Department of Health and Environment will soon provide more vaccine and lend the county additional trained personnel to administer shots.
The second vaccine site would largely be staffed by the KDHE workers, he said.
The current mass vaccination site at the former Wichita Central Library, 223 S. Main, is running 2,200 to 2,300 shots per day, said County Manager Tom Stolz.
The site for the second clinic has not been selected, but Stolz said the county is considering using the Extension Center at the southeast corner of 21st and Ridge in west Wichita and would probably have a decision by late afternoon Tuesday.
The Extension Center is currently being used for coronavirus testing, but with the number of tests dropping, that function could move to a smaller location, Stolz said.
Stolz also said the county is expecting an influx of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine and is considering scheduling special vaccination days for people who prefer to receive that shot.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have been used so far require two shots, spaced two to three weeks apart, for full effectiveness.
Also, some recipients are more comfortable taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it uses a more traditional method of provoking an immune response than the newer Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been shown to provide greater protection against developing symptomatic COVID-19 disease — 94% to 95%, compared to 65% for Johnson & Johnson.
However, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shown in testing to be 85% effective in preventing severe cases of COVID-19.
Until now, the county’s policy has been to administer whichever vaccine was available that day without an option for recipients to choose one brand or the other, Stolz said.
But that could change as the county’s supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccine increases, he said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 12:58 PM.
