Dec 02, 2020

🎥 Update: COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan for Kansas

Posted Dec 02, 2020 10:31 PM

TOPEKA —Governor Kelly held a news conference Wednesday to announce the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. 

Health care workers will be the first to receive the vaccines.

Kelly said that the state expects to receive the first of two vaccine doses for 23,750 people by the middle of this month if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes emergency use of a vaccine made by Pfizer. The FDA also will consider authorizing a vaccine made by Moderna, but doses of both would be rationed in the early stages and it likely will be months before a vaccine is available to most people. The first allotment of vaccines would be enough to give the first dose to one in every 122 of the state’s 2.9 million residents.

Kelly said the state will follow federal guidance for the early distribution of vaccines and target them first for health care workers who are at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus, such as those who work in wards for COVID-19 patients. She said the Pfizer vaccine will be sent first to a limited number of specialized cold-storage storage sites that the state won’t disclose for security reasons before being distributed more widely.

“We have a variety of ways of distributing it that don’t take that long,” Kelly said during a Statehouse news conference. “We’ve got helicopters. We’ve got couriers.”

The state expects to receive the first of two doses for another 49,000 people later this month if the FDA authorizes emergency use of the Moderna vaccine, enough for one in 59 of the state’s residents. Dr. Sam Antonios, chief clinical officer for the Ascension Via Christi health system, said it is preparing for “multiple scenarios” but expects to add temporary staff to administer the vaccine to workers on a voluntary basis.

“We are actively preparing to offer and administer the vaccine to our associates just as soon as it becomes available,” Antonios said in a statement.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas increased by 4,615 to a total of 162,061 the state health department reported Wednesday afternoon.  Coronavirus deaths were reported at 1,679 an increase of 119.

Click here for additional numbers from the KDHE

Wednesday Dec. 2, 2020 KDHE image
Wednesday Dec. 2, 2020 KDHE image