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.