Governor Laura Kelly has given more details to the potential timeline for widespread vaccine distribution as part of her weekly news conference Wednesday.
With frontline healthcare workers getting vaccinated now, she says long-term care facilities could start getting doses as soon as next week.
Phase One involves healthcare workers, frontline public health workers, emergency medical responders and long-term care facilities. First responders, teachers and people “at high risk for adverse health consequences” could start vaccinations by late winter as part of Phase Two. Phase Three involves adults in the general public by spring, with children in Phase Four by summer.
Given that, Health Secretary Lee Norman said this is a “draft schedule.”
All the current vaccines are from Pfizer and BioNTech, and there could be as many as 150,000 doses transported to Kansas by the end of the year. Kelly expects close to 50,000 doses from Moderna once that drug gets emergency use authorization from the federal government.
Kelly also says the unified testing strategy, including the drive-thru test lane at the Lyon County Fairgrounds beginning Friday, is working in getting more residents tested at no cost. While that test line is in effect through Dec. 30, the Flint Hills Community Health Center has reversed course and now will continue its drive-thru test line. CEO Renee Hively says the decision followed a meeting of the Lyon County Public Health planning committee and was made to offer residents multiple testing options. The original plan had the Health Center testing line pausing while the GoGetTested.com/Kansas effort was underway.
