As the state of Kansas struggles with vaccine distribution — at least according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Emporia’s main medical facilities say they are branching out to gauge the interest at other healthcare locations.
Both Newman Regional Health and Flint Hills Community Health Center have received vaccines over the past three weeks. Health Center Chief Operating Officer Amanda Dreasher:
The Health Center received 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine shortly before Christmas, and Dreasher says all staffers who wanted the vaccine got the first dose.
Newman Regional Health, meanwhile, got almost 170 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in mid-December, followed by 300 doses of the Moderna vaccine last week. Frontline workers received the initial shot of the Pfizer drug almost immediately and should receive the second shot over the next week if those come to the hospital as expected. Vaccinations for the Moderna drug, which begin Tuesday, will cover all remaining staff wanting a shot. Director of Business Development McKenzie Cinelli says the hospital is also gauging the interest of other nearby healthcare providers.
Meanwhile, the CDC puts Kansas as last in the country in reported COVID-19 vaccination rate as listed by people initiating vaccinations, or people who have received the first of the two doses needed for full vaccinations. Kansas now is at 418 vaccinations per 100,000 people. Ohio is second-worst nationally, followed by Mississippi and Georgia with rates all below 500 vaccinations per 100,000 people. Regionally, Oklahoma is second-worst at 934 vaccinations per 100,000. Missouri, Colorado and Nebraska are all over 1,000 vaccines per 100,000 residents.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says the numbers are not accurate because not all providers are reporting the vaccines they have administered.
So far, Kansas has received almost 115,000 COVID-19 vaccines.
