As KS opens vaccines to all adults, Johnson County opens warehouse to handle demand
Johnson County health officials said they expect a shipment of nearly 20,000 COVID-19 vaccines next week, which should help them ramp up the number of appointments available at a new clinic inside an empty Lenexa warehouse.
Sanmi Areola, county public health director, said the shipment will be more than double the number of vaccines the county was receiving a month ago. It includes 18,720 doses of the Pfizer and 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccines, which is the highest number of vaccines the county has ever received in one week.
“That’s what we should expect moving forward for the next few weeks, which is good,” he said on Thursday, adding that the county was previously receiving more than 8,000 doses a week.
The additional doses are needed as Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday announced that the state will make the vaccine available to all residents at least 16 years of age as of Monday — the final phase of the state’s vaccine prioritization plan.
Meanwhile, officials with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Thursday that “production issues” mean the state will receive significantly fewer doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week. A press release said the state expects to receive about 16,500 doses, compared to the 100,000 officials anticipated.
Despite that, Areola believes the county will continue increasing the number of appointments available at its new Lenexa clinic, which opened on Tuesday. He hopes the added space will allow workers to eventually offer appointments at night and on the weekends.
Areola said that nearly 900 people received the vaccine at the site on Thursday. Additional appointments have been made each day, with about 1,200 people expected to receive their first shot on Friday.
Areola said next week’s goal is to vaccinate about 1,800 people at the site on Tuesday and Wednesday.
To schedule an appointment, Johnson County residents may go online to to jocogov.org/interestsurvey to fill out an interest survey. Or assistance is available by calling 913-715-2819, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Once the survey is completed, the health department will contact residents to make an appointment.
Johnson County also continues vaccinating residents, including offering second doses, at the Okun Fieldhouse in Shawnee.
As of Thursday, Areola said that roughly 30% of Johnson County’s population who are eligible for the vaccine, or more than 136,000 people, have received the first dose. About 16% have received the second dose, or more than 72,000 people.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 1:43 PM.
