Category: Health

Second COVID booster shots available in Wyandotte County

Second booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are available in Wyandotte County, according to the Unified Government Health Department.

On Tuesday, the Federal Drug Administration authorized booster doses of the COVID vaccine for older people and certain immunocompromised individuals.

“This means that a second booster shot of protection against the COVID-19 virus is now available to populations at higher risk for a more severe infection from the virus,” said Dr. Allen Greiner, chief medical officer with the Unified Government Health Department.

According to the FDA statement issued on Tuesday, “emerging evidence suggests that a second booster dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine improves protection against severe COVID-19 infections and is not associated with new safety concerns.”

Those who are eligible for a second booster shot include:

• Individuals 50 years of age and older, at least 4 months after they received their first booster shot of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine.

• Individuals 12 years of age and older with certain kinds of immunocompromise can receive a second booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, at least 4 months after they received their first booster dose of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine.


o These are people who have undergone solid organ transplantation, are receiving treatment for solid tumor or blood cancers, or who are living with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise.

• Individuals 18 years of age and older can get a second booster shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine if they have the same certain immunocompromise.

Recommendation based on current evidence

The FDA based its recommendation upon current evidence, which suggests some waning of protection over time against serious infections from COVID-19 in older and immunocompromised individuals.

The action taken by FDA on Tuesday only applies to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. The agency said it will continue to evaluate data and information as it becomes available when considering the potential use of a second booster shot in other age groups.

Second booster shots available in Wyandotte County

Second booster shots will be available at the Unified Government Health Department at 619 Ann Ave. Same day appointments are also available. Call
913-573-8855 to make an appointment.

New appointment hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 9 a.m. — 4:30 p.m.
Thursday 9 a.m. — 6 p.m.

Those who need more information on second booster shots and who is eligible for them at this time, may visit WycoVaccines.org or call 3-1-1. The public can also find other vaccine locations by visiting vaccines.gov. Additional information about COVID-19 statistics, vaccines and testing can also be found at WycoVaccines.org.

  • Information from UG Health Department

TB cases identified in Wyandotte County

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Unified Government Public Health Department have identified a small number of confirmed cases, fewer than 10 patients at this time, of active tuberculosis in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

According to a news release from the KDHE, some of these cases are known to be multi-drug resistant. MDR TB is caused by a version of the bacteria that causes TB that has developed a resistance to the primary treatment drugs.

Over time, bacteria may become resistant to commonly used antibiotics, if antibiotics are over-prescribed or if people do not complete their full course of antibiotic treatment, according to the KDHE.

KDHE and the UG Health Department are working to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate treatment and to prevent additional cases from occurring, a spokesman stated. Additionally, the agencies are working with and following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for this investigation. There is minimal risk to the general public while this investigation takes place.

As is standard practice in these types of investigations, the UG Health Department is working with each patient to identify possible close contacts and conduct TB testing of those individuals. Those who have been close contact with known patients will be notified by the local health department and provided a test at no cost, the spokesman stated.

TB is an infectious disease that is caused by a bacterium and is most commonly found in the lungs, the KDHE spokesman stated. In most cases, TB spreads through prolonged contact and is treatable.

TB is spread through the air, similar to the way that cold and flu viruses are spread.

Whenever someone with active TB sneezes, coughs or spits, the bacteria are released into the air, according to KDHE. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria-laden particulates and may become infected if the bacteria settle in the lungs and begin to grow. From there, they can move through the blood to other parts of the body, such as the kidney, spine and brain.

TB is not spread by kissing, shaking hands, sharing food, drink or toothbrushes, or by touching objects like bed linens or toilet seats, according to the KDHE.

Even if someone is infected with TB bacteria, it does not mean the person will get “active TB” disease, the spokesman stated. Most people who become infected do not develop active TB. Instead, they are considered to have “latent TB infection” because their body’s defenses can protect them, according to the spokesman.

The general symptoms of TB disease include feelings of sickness or weakness, fever, night sweats, coughing, chest pain or coughing up blood. Only people with symptoms of active TB disease can spread the disease to others, according to the KDHE. This usually affects those that the patient spends the most time with every day, like family members, friends, coworkers, or schoolmates.

Anyone experiencing these symptoms or who feel strongly that they may have been infected with TB, recently or many years ago, should contact their primary care physician or other trained medical professional, the KDHE spokesman stated.

Additional information about TB can be found on the CDC website, https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/tbinfectiondisease.htm.

As BA.2 variant prevalence increases in northeast U.S., Kansas hospitals already altering response

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — While publicly available data may lag, medical experts at a Kansas hospital system say the prevalence of the BA.2 variant of COVID-19 is slowly rising and is already affecting pandemic response.

The variant has yet to become the most prevalent strain in Kansas, but as cases become more common in some areas of the country, especially in the northeast, public health leaders are having to make quick changes in response. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration limited the use of sotrovimab, a COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy, because it does not work against BA.2.

States where the variant is prevalent no longer have FDA authorization to use the treatment.

In addition, reports suggest President Joe Biden is planning an additional round of booster shots for older adults in the coming weeks.

“We have not been using sotrovimab now for a week and a half or two weeks,” said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, director of infection prevention at the University of Kansas Health System, adding that, “we do know the prevalence of BA.2 is increasing (in Kansas) but overall, we still are not seeing a large increase in cases.”

Sotrovimab was the last monoclonal antibody unaffected by new coronavirus strains after the FDA revoked authorizations for several other antibody therapies that did not work against the Omicron variant.

According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, about 35% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. were caused by BA.2. In monitoring by the CDC, the region including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut saw more than half of the cases linked to the variant.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has recorded more than 750,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 8,000 deaths.

While case numbers appear to be leveling off in Kansas, Dr. Steven Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said doctors are still treating patients. Currently, half of those patients are at KU Health System for COVID-19-related issues, and the other half are there with COVID-19.

“If you’ve been vaccinated, you’re more likely to be asymptomatic, so you may come in positive, but you may be coming in for your hip surgery or your back surgery, and we still register you as positive because that’s what we’re required to do,” Dr. Stites said.

He reiterated that the best way to avoid being part of the group in the hospital specifically for COVID-19 related complications was to get not just vaccinated but boosted. He noted a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing the importance of the additional shot.

“It was people who had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine could either get a placebo for their booster or a real dose of vaccination to test the real-world effectiveness of vaccine booster vaccinations,” Dr. Stites said. “What they found was a 95% 98% reduction in serious hospitalization and death if you’ve had the booster vaccination, against if you had not had the booster vaccination.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/03/28/as-ba-2-variant-prevalence-increases-in-northeast-u-s-kansas-hospitals-already-altering-response/