Lyon County Public Health and community partners are urging residents to take advantage of COVID-19 vaccination options, and the Flint Hills Community Health Center is concerned about both an ongoing drop in appointment numbers and a largely open primary dose clinic earlier this week.
Flint Hills Community Health Center went into Thursday’s primary dose clinic with around 1,400 Moderna doses available. Less than 200 residents got vaccinated, and around half of those were people who were originally scheduled for the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern says it’s good that Lyon County has vaccines available, but she has been concerned about dipping appointment numbers for several weeks now. She says the agency is taking a hard look at some potential changes to vaccine delivery.
Newman Regional Health had 11 of its 20 appointment slots full for Thursday’s primary dose clinic, but all 20 slots are full for Friday clinic.
Haag Pharmacy has ended its self-scheduling option for Friday’s clinic, also involving Moderna, but people can call the pharmacy at 342-1242 to schedule appointments. Pharmacy owner Amber Haag says the schedule is still close to wide open for Friday afternoon and Saturday.
Graves Drugs, which also has Moderna vaccines, has noticed some vaccine “hesitancy,” especially among people between ages 20-60.
Millbern says health officials understand the personal nature of any choice to get vaccinated and Public Health is encouraging people to talk with agency officials, primary care physicians and recently-vaccinated family members to get any questions answered.
Overall, the number of Lyon County residents getting vaccinated will continue to increase, although that push recently has been slow ever since the state let all adults ages 18 and older get vaccinated. Around 34 percent of all eligible Lyon County adults have been fully vaccinated.
