No more “fire drills.”
That’s the goal of a new approach to coronavirus vaccines from the Biden administration — one welcomed by Governor Laura Kelly. During her weekly news conference, she says the government plans to increase vaccine levels by 16 percent as soon as next week. She also says the federal government plans to give three-week vaccination forecasts instead of the weekly forecasts now in place.
Health Secretary Lee Norman says the state is changing its approach in delivering vaccines to hospitals or county health departments. Norman says the so-called “hub-and-spoke” method used in Phase 1, where vaccines were distributed regionally first and then went to local entities, is now obsolete so Kansas is now shipping directly to local health departments.
More information about county and state vaccination efforts is online at www.kansasvaccine.org.
In addition, the governor says over 2 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in Kansas since the pandemic started 10 months ago.
Separately, Kelly says the plan for distributing federal COVID-19 relief dollars is different from last year, where the money was funneled through the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas, or SPARK, committee and then sent to partners at the local, county and state levels. With the $900 billion in total federal funding approved last month, money will go directly to partners:
*$200 million for public health, including increasing access to testing, tracking and tracing programs
*An unlisted amount to education for continued access to remote learning and to minimize learning loss
*At least $12 million for economic development through forgivable loans for both new and repeat applicants
*A 15-percent increase in SNAP benefit funding for people to buy food
*Nearly $200 million to support housing stability
