Newman Regional Health and Flint Hills Community Health Center are working together to get residents vaccinated for coronavirus.
Hospital Infection Preventionist Ester Knobloch and Health Center CEO Renee Hively joined KVOE’s Morning Show on Monday for the first COVID-19 Vaccination Briefing. One local question has been whether any vaccinations are being withheld. Knobloch says no.
The local vaccination process is “well into Phase One,” according to Knobloch — meaning vaccinations continue for healthcare workers, critical-level pandemic response workers and long-term care, senior housing or supported independent living facilities. Last week, Governor Kelly announced a five-step plan for getting state residents vaccinated, perhaps by late spring or early summer. However, with President-elect Joe Biden announcing plans to speed up the process, Hively sounded encouraged by how that could change the landscape, but right now there are a lot of unknowns about how that will look.
Besides the five-step approach as outlined by the governor, Lyon County has considering another three-phase framework involving the number of available vaccines. The current phase has limited doses, with the second phase involving a “large” number of vaccines and the final phase reflecting widespread availability. Hively says more vaccine “access points” will develop as the process continues.
Newman Regional Health has administered around 570 initial doses and has completed the vaccination cycle for about 170 workers. The Health Center has given first-round vaccinations to around 200 employees. Clinical employees at Emporia State, Flint Hills Technical College and USD 253 Emporia have also received first-round doses along with employees at the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. Long-term care vaccines are going out as well through a partnership involving the federal government, CVS and Walgreens.
Other counties, including Coffey and Osage counties, are putting priority group residents on waiting lists.
The Vaccination Briefing came a few hours before the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced some good news about the state’s vaccination rates. Two weeks ago, Kansas was last based on number of initial doses per capita. Now it’s in the top tier in that category at 2,020 initial vaccinations per 100,000 people. West Virginia leads the country with almost 5,000 vaccinations per 100,000 people.
Vaccination Briefings will take place Mondays at 8:20 am on KVOE and KVOE.com. Programs will be stored in the KVOE.com Audio Vault after they are done.
