Johnson County residents visit Okun Fieldhouse in Shawnee, where COVID-19 vaccinations started in January.
As pressure builds to get people vaccinated before the virus’s more transmissible variants take hold, people throughout Kansas City are finding that the criteria for getting a shot are different from state to state, hospital to hospital.
It took hours of diligent searching, a late-night tip and many hits on the “refresh” button, but Shawnee, Kansas, resident Kathy Cook managed to get five of her relatives, mostly in their 70s and 80s, appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The one exception was her husband, Steve, who has been treated for three years for cancer at the University of Kansas Health System.
KCUR 89.3
Registered Nurse Raquel Garcia, a Truman Medical Centers employee, injects James Watts, 71, with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Linwood YMCA.
After Missouri opened vaccine eligibility to seniors and high-risk individuals over two weeks ago, local organizations have battled various obstacles trying to distribute the doses where they’re needed most.
James Watts was eager to travel again, to see his children and grandchildren.
This week, that dream inched a bit closer to reality when the 71-year-old from Kansas City got his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at the Linwood YMCA.
“I want to be able to see (family), with some protection,” Watts said. “For me to be mobile was the number one reason.”
By Jeff Fox jeff.fox@examiner.net
The head of Truman Medical Centers, which has been one of the metro area’s biggest pipelines for COVID-19 vaccinations, says vaccine supplies are tight and could stay that way for a few more weeks.
“One of the biggest constraints that we have right now is simply the availability of vaccine, as you know. … It’s pretty well documented,” Charlie Shields, TMC’s president and CEO, told Jackson County legislators Monday.
So far, according to Jackson County Health Department Director Bridgette Shaffer, TMC and the Health Department together have delivered almost half of the 46,318 doses of vaccine that, as of Monday, the state’s dashboard said had been given in the county. Of those, roughly 16,000 have been at TMC and 7,500 at the Health Department.
KC metro hospitals chosen for mass COVID-19 vaccine distribution
State health department announces plan Monday
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Monday that it chose nine hospitals and health care systems in the Kansas City region to administer a portion of its 76,000 weekly doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this month.
and last updated 2021-02-02 00:04:26-05
KANSAS CITY, Mo. â Missouri is rolling out a large-scale plan to inoculate those who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Monday that it chose nine hospitals and health care systems in the Kansas City region to administer a portion of its 76,000 weekly doses this month.