The Riley County Health Department received 2500 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Thursday.
Health Department Director Julie Gibbs says the shipment should cover the first dose for those eligible to receive the vaccine during phase one of the state’s distribution plan.
“We hope to have all of our health care providers, or phase one vaccinated by the end of next week. Keep in mind, this would be the first dose for many of them. We are working on our second dose for those that we were able to do between Christmas and New Year’s,” she said.
KDHE hopes to begin phase two by February 1. During Thursday’s Riley County Commission meeting, Gibbs informed officials who will be included in that second phase.
“These are the 65 and over group, high contact workers, such as K-12 educators and child care providers as well as others,” she said.
Gibbs also clarified a misconception regarding the new doses that the health department is “sitting on vaccines”
“That’s not the case. When we receive shipments of the vaccine, we schedule to get those out right away so that we can get more people vaccinated quickly. Our goal is to always get vaccines in arms, not to have it sit on shelves,” she said.
So far more than 5,000 have signed up to receive the vaccine once it is publicly available. To learn more, visit RileyCountyKS.gov/VaccineRequest or call 785-565-6560.
