Vaccinations surge in some parts of Kansas while others trail
Inside a cavernous building on the Douglas County fairgrounds on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, dozens of volunteers wearing orange safety vests gathered to be briefed on the work ahead: watch out for needles, respect people’s privacy, stay inside if there’s lightning.
This would be the county’s last mass vaccination clinic for COVID-19, part of a coordinated effort that made Douglas County a state leader in delivering shots to arms. More than 45% of its residents have received at least one dose, the second-highest percentage among counties.
Compared to some neighboring counties, however, Douglas is a hot spot of vaccine interest.
To the southeast, in Miami County, just 30% of residents have received one shot. To the northeast, only 28% have gotten a first shot in Leavenworth County.
In Kansas, a 26-point gap exists between the county with the highest vaccination rate, Marshall, and the lowest, Geary.
Vaccines have never been more available in the state. After months of restricted access, everyone 16 and older has been eligible for weeks now.
But as the sprawling vaccination campaign continues, it’s becoming increasingly clear that some communities are running far ahead while other, often rural, areas remain stubbornly behind.
If left unresolved, the gaps separating low and high-vax areas could lead to a split-screen summer, with counties, cities and even neighborhoods evolving into islands of vaccination while others continue to deal with hospitalizations, and possibly deaths.
“The higher vaccinated counties will have less disease and less impact,” said Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Health officials in Lawrence are paying attention.
“It’s vitally important that that work in other counties continues and is successful because we do not live in a bubble,” said Dan Partridge, director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.
At the same time, disparities in vaccine uptake could also make it difficult for even high-vaccination areas to truly control the virus as the unvaccinated continue to work in and visit these places.
Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association, said if rural and urban areas aren’t vaccinated at the same rates, it creates the potential for “pools of COVID infection.”
“We’re a mobile society, and if you have adjacent rural towns and rural communities not vaccinated, you’re still allowing this pandemic to continue into the future,” Morgan said.
Derik Flerlage, the infectious disease division manager for the Shawnee County Health Department, said a county with a high vaccination rate next to one with a lower rate “does create the potential for an outbreak situation.”
“I think what I worry about is having these pockets of potential outbreaks, these pockets of transmission,” he said.
A more targeted approach
While vaccinations have never been more available, the days where thousands would converge on a mass site are coming to an end. Demand for shots is falling and the resources required to operate large clinics can be intensive.
“The interest in getting vaccinated is now waning. We’re having lots of vaccine in refrigerators waiting for arms to put it in, and if more adults don’t get vaccinated, this virus is going to continue to spread,” said Dr. William Schaffner, infectious diseases expert and professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.
Officials are now turning their attention to smaller clinics and mobile operations to reach individuals. And they’re emphasizing the importance of conversations with vaccine hesitant individuals.
The coming weeks and months will test whether the more intimate, targeted approach can close the vaccination gap.
“We want to make sure we reach all people in all counties and there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Norman said.
Illustrating the divide, just over 35% of Kansas City residents have started the vaccination process. But two counties to the north, in Buchanan, the number falls to 18%
Overall, 38% of Kansans have received at least one dose of vaccine. That’s well short of the rate that health experts say may be needed to achieve herd immunity, where the virus begins to die out because it can’t find more people to infect.
Vaccination data for the state show the number of doses administered is falling after peaking in late March.
“So while we’re opening up, we’ll still have spread of the virus,” Schaffner said. “We will not be at the point where we can say this virus has been controlled. We won’t get there unless a lot more adults come forward to be vaccinated.”
Marshall’s efforts
Some efforts are underway to reach vaccine-hesitant conservatives. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Great Bend OB-GYN, last week appeared in a public service announcement with other GOP doctors in Congress encouraging vaccinations.
The ad framed vaccinations as a way to “live life as free as before” the pandemic.
Several of the least-vaccinated counties in Kansas are in the southeast and southwest parts of the state. Marshall said he’s appeared at a number of town halls in both areas where people with libertarian philosophies feel like they’ve been deceived, talked down to and lied to about the vaccines.
“Almost like America’s tried to shame them into this and it’s kind of backfired,” Marshall said in an interview. “So they’re dug in now and saying you can’t make me do this.”
Marshall said people need to hear from their nurse, pharmacist, or doctor. “They need it from somebody they trust enough,” he said.
Morgan, of the rural health association, said so far the messaging about the importance of vaccines has not been “rural relevant. It has not been helpful from a rural perspective.”
“And I say that because at least from what we’re hearing from our membership, having the CDC tell people what they can and can’t do, and having politicians tell rural communities what they can and can’t do just is not a successful messaging strategy,” Morgan said.
“And where we’re seeing successes in communities it’s local leadership driving this, and that’s how it has to be going ahead,” Morgan said. “We really have to put small town doctors and nurses at the front of promoting vaccinations in a rural context.”
‘Work that lies ahead’
Back in Douglas County, health officials are pushing ahead after holding their final mass vaccination clinic. The city-county health department plans an all-comers clinic this weekend focused on reaching people of color.
Even with at least 45% of residents partially vaccinated, another 25% or more of the population needs shots before the county begins to approach herd immunity.
Months ago, the agency conducted a survey to get a handle on interest in the vaccines. Just about everyone who said they were ready to get the shot has now been vaccinated, said Partridge, the health department director.
The people who haven’t shown up are those who said they weren’t ready or needed more information.
“That’s the work that lies ahead,” Partridge said. “To do that hard work of convincing people that this vaccine is for them.”
The Star’s Bryan Lowry contributed reporting
This story was originally published May 2, 2021 at 5:17 AM with the headline "Vaccinations surge in some parts of Kansas while others trail."
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