Sedgwick County health officials are getting ready for the COVID-19 vaccine, but the Health Department is not expecting to receive any of the first doses.
Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman told county commissioners this week that the first doses are expected to go to hospital systems, to give vaccines to health care workers. Doses are also expected to go to commercial pharmacies that work with long-term care facilities, to provide vaccines for staff and residents.
Kaufman said state health officials are making the decisions on who gets the vaccine first. He said as vaccine supplies increase, more populations will be added to the list and the general population is expected to begin receiving the vaccinations in late spring.
Kaufman said the Health Department and Emergency Management have been planning for the vaccine since last summer, and cold storage units have been ordered. He said the planning process is complicated by a number of factors, including approval of the vaccine, the number of doses available, and the logistics of cold storage requirements among the different vaccines.
The state of Kansas is expecting to get the first shipment of vaccine from Pfizer in the next week, and another shipment will be coming from Moderna. The state expects to have 150,000 doses by the end of the month.
