Kansas can’t find enough people to take vaccines

Why can’t Kansas get more people vaccinated?

That was a question at the news conference Thursday morning at the University of Kansas Health Center.

Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said in the first 20 weeks, there were 2 million vaccines given in Kansas, or about 100,000 a week. Now they’re down to giving about 8,500 a day, he said.

“We’ve dropped down to about two-thirds the number of vaccines that were given, and we are flush in vaccine,” Dr. Norman said. “We are putting the pedal to the metal in terms of vaccine hesitant, and a lot of people that I would call the vaccine lazy. They plan on getting it but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Their strategy for reaching those persons has changed.

“We’re going out to the communities, we’re going to fishing holes behind dams, we’re going to tough-to-reach communities,” he said.

It’s not as efficient and they are giving 50 to 75 vaccinations at a time instead of 1,000 a time.

“The mass vaccination clinics are not carrying the day any more,” he said.

He tells the story of a trucker driving through who saw a sign about vaccines, and drove his truck in for a drive-through vaccine.

One idea Kansas is considering is a lottery open to vaccinated people, such as Ohio, and they are working on an event at the Kansas Speedway, and also at Great Bend and Barton County, according to Dr. Norman. There will not be a $1 million lottery like Ohio, but it will be right-sized for Kansas, he said.

“I don’t think of herd immunity as a number,” he said. He thinks of it as diminished or absent community transmission, he added.

It would take seven months at the current rate to get to 75 percent vaccinated, he said.

The people who are 65 and older already are 80 to 90 percent vaccinated in Kansas.

It’s the people who are 20 to 60-year-olds who need to get vaccinated, according to Dr. Norman. Vaccinations for those who are 12 to 18 are going well, he added.

He said herd immunity won’t be the same throughout Kansas. When some places have herd immunity, they will still be working longer in places where not as many people are vaccinated.

Dr. Norman said the total number of cases is down 9 percent statewide, but there have been questions about the figure because testing is down. They are also down 27 percent in COVID-19 hospital admissions and death rates are down 20 percent, he said.

He said he thinks they will be able to return to Allen Field House for KU basketball games if they can get enough people vaccinated.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, said he hopes college students who didn’t get vaccinated before they left campus will get vaccinated before they come back.

Dr. Norman said there have been 37 health administrators and medical officers who left their positions in Kansas, which is 25 percent of the total public health work force, he said. There have been more than 55 positions of state health officers who have turned over since the beginning of the pandemic, he added.

At the same time, people are wanting to enter the field, and this could serve as a way to improve training for public health professionals.

On the question of the origins of COVID-19, Dr. Norman said it was possible for the virus to have developed in bats and in laboratories. He has no evidence that the spread started from a laboratory, however.

Experts who work with viruses have said this virus could not have been constructed, Dr. Hawkinson said. He added they need to continue to move forward. The questions need to continue to be investigated, he added.

Dr. Norman said wastewater testing continues in Kansas and is helpful in predicting where the next increases in cases will be found.

They also are going to do a pilot project to test the air, he said. The air is run through a filter, and then the filter is tested, he added. Allen Field House, packing plants, factories and schools might be excellent places to test the air, he added.

Seventy percent of COVID-19 cases in Kansas now are variants, and most are the U.K. variant, he said. Only around 30 percent are the natural COVID-19 cases.

There are currently two different India origin variants in Kansas, he added. Dr. Hawkinson added that research suggests that vaccines protect against the variants.

When asked about the possibility of rising cases, Dr. Norman said the real test will be Memorial Day and Fourth of July gatherings.

Even though the Kansas Legislature is looking for ways to end the emergency declaration, Dr. Norman said it doesn’t mean the emergency is over. He offered Taiwan and Canada as example of places that let their guards down, and now face a large increase in cases.

“A mask will never do you wrong,” Dr. Norman said. He said he applauds those with mask orders and supports people making risk-based decisions.

He also said the state was looking for ways to share or distribute the vaccine to other places that might need it, instead of letting it sit on the shelf in Kansas.

Wyandotte County in a Unified Government meeting on Thursday night allowed the county health and mask order to expire, effective 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 28. (See story at https://wyandotteonline.com/wyandotte-county-covid-19-health-mask-orders-to-expire-friday-night-may-28/).

Free walk-in vaccinations available Friday

Free walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations will be available for everyone 12 and older from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 28, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas, and at the former Kmart store, 7836 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. People may also schedule vaccinations at WycoVaccines.org.

The vaccination site at the former Best Buy store was permanently closed on Wednesday, May 26.

The Unified Government Health Department schedule of vaccinations changed recently. To see the schedule and more information about vaccinations, visit WycoVaccines.org or https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.

Those who receive vaccinations are asked to consider bringing an ID to make the process go faster.

The Health Department is doing more mobile vaccinations, and people may request vaccines to be given at different sites in the community by going to WycoVaccines.org and clicking on “mobile vaccine request.” People also may request a ride to vaccination sites on the same page.

UG Health Department vaccinations are now open to people from other counties and states. People may walk in for vaccinations or can schedule them.

Those who wish to schedule an appointment may use the Health Department’s self-scheduling tool at WycoVaccines.org and click on a blue button that says, “Click here to schedule an appointment online.” The page is available in Spanish by clicking at the top of the page. Walk-in appointments also are welcome.

Those who don’t have an internet connection may call 3-1-1 or 913-573-5311 for assistance in scheduling their vaccination appointment time and date.
To see more information about Health Department vaccinations and next week’s schedule, visit WycoVaccines.org.

Other sites available for vaccinations

Vaccinations at KU Health System are open to the public. Current patients may use MyChart to make an appointment. Others may call 913-588-1227 or visit kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to make an appointment to get vaccinated. KU Health System currently is vaccinating residents of Kansas and Missouri who are 12 or older, by appointment only. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the appointment.

There are also pharmacies giving free COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County by appointment, when available. These include Price Chopper and Hen House pharmacies, which are now also accepting walk-in vaccinations or appointments, and are starting vaccinations for age 12 and up at those pharmacies that are giving Pfizer vaccine (see https://www.ballsfoodspharmacy.com/).

CVS has announced walk-in appointments for COVID-19 vaccine at some of its stores. Those interested in getting a vaccination at a CVS pharmacy are asked to visit a CVS website in order to make sure there is vaccine available. The website is at www.cvs.com/. Walgreens and Walmart also were listed on www.vaccines.gov as giving vaccinations.

Other pharmacies and sites giving vaccines are listed at www.vaccines.gov.

Case numbers reported

The number of active COVID-19 patients decreased Thursday at the University of Kansas Health System, according to Dr. Hawkinson. There were six active COVID-19 patients, a decrease of one. One of the patients was in the intensive care unit, no change from Wednesday. Twelve other patients were hospitalized because of COVID-19 but were not in the acute infection phase, an increase of two from Wednesday. The total of 19 patients is up one from Wednesday.

Wyandotte County reported an increase of six COVID-19 cases on Thursday, May 27, for a cumulative 18,727 cases, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was a cumulative total of 293 deaths reported, no change from Wednesday.

The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 174,268 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Thursday, an increase of 150 cases since Wednesday. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 49.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 313,720 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Kansas on Wednesday, May 26, an increase of 446 cases since Wednesday, May 24. There were a total cumulative 5,067 deaths reported statewide, an increase of nine.
Johnson County had a cumulative 59,095 cases on Wednesday, an increase of 53 since Monday, according to the KDHE. Leavenworth County had a cumulative 7,252 cases on Wednesday, an increase of six since Monday. Sedgwick County had a cumulative 57,226 cases on Wednesday, an increase of 99 since Monday.

The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday night reported 33,217,718 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States, with 593,282 total deaths reported nationwide. There were 24,052 new cases nationwide and 1,009 new deaths nationwide.
States with rising numbers of new cases were Florida, 2,327; Texas, 2,193; Washington, 1,755; Illinois, 1,135; and California, 1,122.
Countries with rising numbers of new cases were India, 211,298; Brazil, 80,486; Argentina, 35,399; U.S., 24,052; and Colombia, 23,487, according to Johns Hopkins information.

Free testing available Friday

Free COVID-19 testing also will be offered from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m Friday, May 28, at the former Kmart store at 7836 State Ave., and from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 200 S. 20th St., (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas. Appointments are not needed.

The former Best Buy store site was permanently closed on Wednesday.

For more information, about UG Health Department COVID-19 testing sites and hours, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. To see if there is any change to the schedule, visit https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept. Appointments are not needed.

One of the WellHealth sites for free COVID-19 testing is open beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, May 28, at Lowe’s at 6920 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Appointments are required. For more information, to see other testing sites and to make an appointment, visit https://www.gogettested.com/kansas.

The Health Department’s general contact page is at https://www.wycokck.org/Health/Contact.aspx. The department’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.

Testing sites are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. There are more test sites listed on this page.

Saliva testing is now offered at the UG Health Department. For more information, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/02042021-ugphd-saliva-testing-available.pdf.

The KU doctors’ news conference is online at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/535850401128710.

The University of Kansas Health System COVID-19 update page is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/330310795391910.

A vaccine report for the state of Kansas is at
https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/123/Vaccine-Historical-Document-22521?bidId=.

The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.

The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.

The Wyandotte County page on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website is at https://bao.arcgis.com/covid-19/jhu/county/20209.html.

The Johns Hopkins Data in Motion, a presentation on critical COVID-19 data in the past 24 hours, is at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video.