Sedgwick County opens COVID-19 vaccines to everyone 16 and older starting Monday

Sedgwick County has opened COVID-19 vaccines to everyone 16 years old and older starting Monday after Gov. Laura Kelly approved moving into the next phase of vaccinations, Sedgwick County Commission Chair Pete Meitzner said.

The move came two days after the Sedgwick County Commission voted to press Kelly’s administration on opening vaccines to everyone.

Commissioners have said every adult should be eligible for a vaccine because they feel they have been stripped of their power to enforce local health restrictions by Senate Bill 40, signed into law by Kelly on Wednesday night.

Commissioners voted to rescind all local health orders on Wednesday, but the governor’s mask mandate remains in effect until at least March 31.

“We were a big, big part of the governor’s decision to go ahead and move to phase 5,” Meitzner said. “So I want to thank KDHE for watching and cooperating and obviously the governor’s office for watching as well, in working with us. Together — that’s how we’re going to fight this thing to the end here locally and statewide.”

Kansas is the eighth state in the country to open the vaccine to all adults statewide, following Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Utah and West Virginia.

“There’s been criticism in the past that Kansas is behind or last place in some things, but we are now the eighth state to get this out,” Meitzner said.

Meitzner said around 35% of all eligible adults in the previous vaccine phases have received at least one dose of the vaccine statewide and slightly less, or around 30%, have received at least one dose in Sedgwick County.

County officials said 4,000 appointments were available through the Sedgwick County Health Department as of 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

To schedule an appointment through Sedgwick County, visit sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19/vaccine/schedule or call 316-660-1029. If that line is unavailable, call 316-660-7440 to leave a voicemail. Vaccines are being given in downtown Wichita at the former Central Public Library building, at 223 S. Main and the Wichita Transit Operations drive-through clinic at 777 E. Waterman.

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 12:42 PM.