This chart shows Kansas vaccination phases by population.
Phase 2 of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s five-phase COVID-19 vaccination plan is expected to begin later this month or in February, and more details have been released about who will be eligible to receive a shot in this phase.
As the Journal-World has reported, Phase 1, which began in mid-December, includes health care workers, residents in long-term care facilities and workers critical to pandemic response continuity. Phase 2 will include people ages 65 and older, high-contact critical workers and those living in congregate settings. A KDHE document called the Vaccine Prioritization Plan defines high-contact critical workers and examples of congregate settings.
Story updated at 5:24 p.m. Monday:
Two weeks ago, some health leaders in Douglas County were disappointed by a local health center’s decision not to transfer its COVID-19 vaccine doses to Lawrence’s hospital for distribution.
Now that organization, Heartland Community Health Center, has completed its distribution of 1,000 doses of the vaccine. Meanwhile, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, which intended to transfer its 300 doses to the hospital, has not yet received state approval for that transfer and will instead finish distributing the vaccine itself.
Local leaders had deemed LMH Health the intended distribution site for Phase 1A of the vaccination process in Douglas County. When Heartland Community Health Center declined to transfer its doses to the hospital, a local health leader called it a “wrinkle” in the vaccine distribution process.
photo by: Contributed Photo/Heartland Community Health Center
From left, Dr. Cooper Nickel, a primary care provider at Heartland Community Health Center, and his father, Dr. Graig Nickel, a family physician at Watkins Student Health Center at the University of Kansas, receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, at Heartland.
Story updated at 2:52 p.m. Tuesday:
Heartland Community Health Center received its anticipated 1,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at 9 a.m. Tuesday and began vaccinating Tier 1 health care workers slightly before 11 a.m., according to the health center’s leader.
Robyn Coventon, CEO of Heartland, said vaccine distribution was taking place at the health center, 346 Maine St., Suite 150. Those getting the vaccine will enter the building, as opposed to a drive-thru option. Coventon said a dedicated observation area was available inside for individuals post-vaccination.
photo by: Contributed photo
Shannon Fletcher, a respiratory therapist at LMH Health, was the first person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Lawrence s hospital on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.
A leader at Lawrence’s hospital expressed disappointment in a local health center’s decision not to transfer its incoming vaccine doses to LMH Health, a choice the leader called a “wrinkle” in the vaccine distribution process.
Heartland Community Health Center announced Friday morning that it will receive 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine when it becomes available and that the health center plans to administer the vaccines itself, in accordance with Douglas County’s tiered strategy.