First Lady Jill Biden visits Kansas City clinic as Missouri, Kansas struggle to vaccinate young adults
First lady Jill Biden encouraged college students to get vaccinated during a trip to Kansas City on Thursday, where she praised incentives offered by a local community college to get shots into arms while casting doubt on the idea of mandating vaccinations to enroll.
Biden toured a vaccination clinic at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley where officials were set to administer upwards of 150 shots.
But this clinic came with a twist: anyone who got a shot received a free class worth up to $348.
“I think it’s so creative that MCC is offering a free class to those who get vaccinated,” Biden said.
The visit, Biden’s first to Kansas City as First Lady, comes as Missouri and Kansas struggle to vaccinate college-aged individuals.
Just 19% of Missourians between the ages of 15 and 24 are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services. In Kansas, just 32% of those 18 to 24 are vaccinated, per data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, or KDHE.
The low rates amount to obstacles for health officials as they seek herd immunity, which occurs when enough of the population is immune that the virus struggles to survive. Young people are generally less likely to experience severe illness from COVID-19, but if left unvaccinated they will continue circulating the virus, raising the risk of infecting older or higher-risk individuals.
“It’s been discouraging. It’s one of the least vaccinated age groups right now, the 18 to 35 year olds,” said KDHE Secretary Lee Norman. “That’s a huge reservoir of disease right now.”
The Metropolitan Community College, or MCC, clinic is one of the first two launched by the Biden administration that partners retail pharmacies with community colleges. The First Lady visited the other, in Grand Rapids, Mich., earlier Thursday.
The clinics are part of the federal retail pharmacy program, which makes vaccinations available across the country. The new community college initiative will target high-enrollment institutions for on-site clinics serving students, staff and the public.
“We’re finally heading into somewhere that we’ll be able to spend time together,” Biden said.
MCC’s clinic Thursday took place at its Penn Valley campus, which houses the college’s Health Science Institute. The shots were administered by Costco Pharmacy.
Biden was on the campus for roughly 30 minutes, where she greeted clinic workers and talked to individuals who had just gotten vaccinated while they sat for 15 minutes in a waiting room. She was accompanied by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and Mayor Quinton Lucas.
As Biden spoke to reporters, curious students and others in line turned their heads to watch. Meanwhile, about a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators stood outside.
Some colleges and universities have turned to mandates to prompt students to get shots, with enrollment for the coming fall semester contingent on vaccination. That’s proven highly controversial nationally, especially in conservative states such as Missouri and Kansas.
The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature approved a ban on so-called vaccine passports, which individuals can show to businesses or organizations to prove their vaccination status. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has also said she has no interest in a passport system.
In Missouri, the General Assembly banned county and city governments receiving public funds from requiring documentation of vaccination in order to use public transportation or other public accommodations. Republican Gov. Mike Parson hasn’t acted on the bill yet.
The only Missouri schools planning to mandate vaccinations are Culver Stockton College and Washington University, according to University Business, a trade publication. No Kansas schools are listed.
Biden expressed little interest in a vaccine mandate for college students.
“I think it’s up to individuals to make their own choices,” she said before adding “we’d like to encourage” vaccination.
Colleges and universities have turned instead to incentives. . MCC’s offer of a free class to anyone who gets vaccinated at its clinic is valued at $348. And Johnson County Community College offered $250 to employees who got vaccinated.
Biden compared it to dessert after eating your vegetables .Cleaver likened MCC’s voucher to receiving a campaign donation from someone you’ve just defeated in an election.
“We are not doing well enough and we cannot ignore that tens of thousands of people are walking around our community without the vaccine and that is dangerous to the rest of us,” Cleaver said.
Biden’s visit also comes as the White House promotes its proposal to offer two years of free community college for all Americans. The idea is part of the American Families Plan, a $1.8 billion spending package that also includes expanded early childhood education and child care subsidies.
The first lady, a community college professor, has spent her first few months in the White House focused on those institutions. When President Biden addressed Congress in April, he said the first lady would be “deeply involved” in leading the push for free community college.
“No matter where I go,” the first lady said in Kansas City, “I almost feel most at home at a community college.”
On the tarmac at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport shortly before her return to Washington, a pool reporter traveling with Biden was shown a light blue Royals jersey with “Dr. Biden” on the back that she’d received as a gift. The reporter noted that Biden is unlikely to wear it, as she is a diehard Phillies fan.
The Star’s Jeanne Kuang contributed to this story.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 4:21 PM.
