After weather delay, Sedgwick County plans to boost COVID-19 shots for school workers

After receiving no vaccine doses this week due to foul weather and an energy emergency across much of the Midwest, Sedgwick County plans to boost its vaccination efforts starting next week, county officials announced Thursday.

Part of the boost is good news for the roughly 12,000 K-12 teachers and staff in the county’s school districts, including Wichita Public Schools.

In addition to its regular vaccine allocation, Sedgwick County is set to begin receiving an extra 3,510 doses a week earmarked for school employees, said Tim Kaufman, assistant county manager.

Logistics and vaccination plans are still in the works.

The first foray into vaccinating school personnel didn’t go smoothly.

Last week, the county gave about 2,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the Wichita school district, USD 259.

The county let those doses go because the county is primarily distributing Pfizer vaccine, which has to be stored at temperatures between minus 76 and minus 112 degrees. The county is the only local agency with that capability, said County Manager Tom Stolz.

The Moderna version also has to be stored cold, but not as cold as the Pfizer brand. It made sense to send the Moderna vaccine to USD 259, which is authorized and capable of handling it, Stolz said.

But because of what county officials are calling a miscommunication, the school district announced plans to give shots to its employees 65 and up and others with underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible to severe bouts if they catch COVID-19.

That created an equity issue between Wichita and 10 other districts with schools in the county, who get their vaccines at the county vaccination center where 70 and older is the rule, Stolz said.

To resolve that, the Wichita district was directed not to vaccinate its 65- to 70-year-old employees until the county lowers its age limit to 65.

In the meantime, hundreds of doses are shelved at the school district, which has very few employees over 70 — although school nurses, psychologists, counselors and other therapists could be vaccinated regardless of age because they are eligible as providers of medical services.

The district administered vaccine to 151 employees last weekend.

Part of the reason that the county hasn’t lowered the age limit to 65 yet is that its shipments of vaccine were delayed by the past week’s freezing weather, which essentially paralyzed travel across a broad expanse of the Midwest, said Health Director Adrienne Byrne.

The delay slowed operations at the county’s central vaccination station at the Intrust Bank Arena, Byrne said late Wednesday as she stood amid empty chairs in a sparsely occupied waiting area.

“The reason we have so many chairs open here is that we didn’t get our vaccines, so we weren’t able to schedule additional first doses,” Byrne said. Two doses spaced over three weeks for the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks for the Moderna vaccine are required for the vaccine to be fully effective.

The health department had to curtail scheduling appointments to avoid people showing up and not being able to get their jab, she said.

“For everyone that has an appointment, we have a vaccine — there’s a shot with their name on it,” she said. “But we don’t open up appointments, other appointments, until we know we’re going to get that vaccine in.”

Sedgwick County officials said they plan for all school workers to receive at least a first dose of the vaccine by the end of March, in keeping with Gov. Laura Kelly’s goal.

Each district and private school will develop a plan to prioritize employees in consultation with county health officials, Kaufman said.

The school doses would boost the county’s ability to mass vaccinate in hopes of returning for in-person classes by the end of the school year. Most districts have been holding classes remotely or through a hybrid in-person and online learning model since last spring.

Kimber Kasitz, director of health for Wichita Public Schools, said district employees are eager to get the vaccine. In a recent survey, 78% of district employees who responded said they wanted to be vaccinated. USD 259 has roughly 9,000 employees, including substitute teachers.

“I feel like that is huge,” Kasitz said. “That is a health-minded, proactive community. ... And I know more people will (want the vaccine) once they find out that it’s available. I think a lot of people were unsure and wanted to see what happened in the research.”

Interest in getting the vaccine among Wichita Public Schools employees appears to be much higher than the general population. According to a survey by the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Wichita, 65% of Sedgwick County residents plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

School employees throughout Sedgwick County should be able to begin signing up for vaccine appointments “probably within the next few days,” Kaufman said.

As of Wednesday, approximately 33,000 residents of Sedgwick County had received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. About 10,000 have had both the initial dose and the second booster shot, Byrne said.

This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 6:04 PM.