Kansas unlikely to move into the next phase of Covid-19 vaccine availability in March
Gov. Laura Kelly said Tuesday that Kansas likely will not move to the next phase of its Covid-19 vaccination distribution plan until April.
Kelly would not commit to what she called a “drop dead date” for the third phase of the Kansas rollout plan.
“I think we’re looking at the beginning of April to be able to move into phase three,” Kelly said. “That of course is dependent on getting enough vaccine from the federal government to finish phase two.”
The second phase restricts the low supply of available vaccine doses to those who are age 65 or older or work in places such as grocery stores, schools, senior living, public safety and jails, food processing and manufacturing settings.
The state’s third phase would open vaccine availability to people between the ages of 16 and 64 who have severe medical risks, other critical workers and those who are eligible but had not been vaccinated in previous phases.
“We understand not everybody who is eligible in phase two is going to want to be vaccinated but we want to at least to have made the attempt to get them all vaccinated,” Kelly said.
Kelly was speaking Tuesday at the opening of the Kansas Army National Guard building in Kansas City, Kansas, which is the city’s third mass vaccination facility.
Kelly was in Wyandotte County to hear about how political and public health officials there adopted strategies to educate residents on the vaccine effort.
Wyandotte County officials explained to the Kelly administration how they coordinated with the county’s faith community, refugee population and racial minorities to encourage them to seek vaccination, as well as how to respond to myths and misinformation about the vaccines.
Kansas has administered at least one vaccine dose to 16% of the state’s population. The state’s rollout has been slow, particularly in urban areas like Wyandotte County. But it’s expected that more supply of vaccine will arrive in Kansas, particularly once further shipments of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines begin arriving later in March.
Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said Kansans had reason to be optimistic as the spring season wears on.
“I think we’re going to have an amazing summer,” Norman said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 3:54 PM.
