BY NICOLE ASBURY
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly anticipates the state will receive a significant increase in its number of vaccine doses from the federal government in the coming week.
As Kansas navigates Phase 2 of its vaccine distribution plan, the Democratic governor sat down with The Eudora Times to discuss reopening K-12 schools and more on the state’s plan to get every Kansas resident vaccinated.
This Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.
THE EUDORA TIMES
One of the primary concerns for Eudora residents is, “When are my kids going to get back into the classroom?” [U.S. President Joe Biden] has indicated that he wants to really push for schools to reopen. So, from your perspective, what is your response to that?
GOV. LAURA KELLY
I actually share his concern that our schools are not open. We are, as you and I speak, I’m working with some folks in the public health department to figure out if there is a way that we can ensure that teachers, staff and parents are comfortable, and that it is safe to do so. I agree that the best place for our students is in the classroom.
We just have to do it in a way that ensures that we’re not going to see outbreaks like Colorado has just seen. They pushed for getting kids back into schools, and they are seeing some problems with that. I don’t want to use that as an excuse not to put kids back into the classrooms, but I just want to make sure that when we do, it’s as safe as possible for both the teachers and the community as a whole.
What are you being told by the federal government in terms of how many doses might Kansas accrue as we go through Phase 2? Are we expecting an increase?
Actually, we’ve already seen an increase — that is one of the major differences in the transition to the new administration. I think within the first week — two weeks at most — of the administration, states were guaranteed an increase of 16% of the number of doses arriving in their state. We actually have gotten that and more. We had been getting about 45,000 doses per week. A 16% increase would have meant 52,000 or a little over 52,000, and actually, this next week coming up, we have been told we will get over 80,000 doses, so we’re seeing that.
The other good news is that, before, we were finding out a week at the most ahead of time — sometimes as few of a short notice as 24 hours — that we were going to get doses and how many we were going to get. And you know, the states have been charged with the distribution within the state, so we were getting very little lead time to set up the distribution process. Now, we are getting three weeks out, so we know three weeks ahead of time what to anticipate, and that’s incredibly helpful in setting up the logistics for distributing them throughout the state.
I wondered about that. Douglas County had initially indicated they were getting 1,000 doses per week through Phase 2, but now that’s going to increase, so I was curious about that.
You know, the Biden administration itself has said that he wants to have 100 million doses or shots in arms in the first 100 days of his administration. So, he’s made that commitment out loud. He’s also authorized the Defense Production Act, so that we’re not only seeing the vaccines coming in but also the supply that we need to administer the vaccine in the little vial and the syringe. They’ve invoked the Defense Production Act to ensure these manufacturers and supply go up in accordance with the number of doses.
Biden has indicated military help might make the distribution process more efficient. Do you see that potentially happening in Kansas?
We have that conversation on a regular basis. The Department of Emergency Management here in Kansas is actually under the National Guard. Gen. [David] Weishaar actually oversees the Division of Emergency Management and the National Guard. So we have talked about that. I know Missouri is setting up these mass vaccination outlets using their National Guard. We could do that, but the fact of the matter is we don’t have any vaccine to administer.
Until we really have a huge increase in the amount of vaccine that’s coming in-state, setting up those kind of mass vaccination sites, employing our National Guard, is really not more than a photo-op. We know that it’s an option. It can be part of our plan ... but right now we don’t need it. We have enough providers. What we don’t have is enough vaccine.
Who is Kansas partnering with while administering the vaccines?
We have lots of partners. Our first partners during Phase 1 were primarily our hospitals … in about five different regions in the state. And that’s because, initially, we were getting Pfizer, and that required cold storage. So, we only have a few of those around the state. So, we partnered with our large hospitals … and we sent the vaccine there. They had their own distribution there out to our smaller communities, so that was how we started.
Since then, obviously our local health departments all across the state are a part of the operation. They do vaccinations on a routine basis, so they’re an integral partner in all of this. There has been a partnership from the federal level with CVS and Walgreens — the retail pharmacy chains — to get the vaccine to our nursing homes, to our staff and our residents in nursing homes. That’s been an ongoing program that’s just about finished. Just I think next week some of our pharmacies, again CVS and Walgreens, but other locally pharmacies, will to a limited degree be getting vaccines and will be able now to partner to get those out. We have hundreds of hundreds partners with us across the state, and that list continues to grow.
Around the [federal] COVID-19 relief package, what insight do you have on how that will affect Kansas?
If you talk about the relief -- or it’s really a stimulus package that you’re talking about in Washington. The impact of that will be huge, particularly if it passes in close to its form that it’s in right now. I think that there may be some negotiation between parties. On the federal level, it may not be the $1.9 trillion, but I expect it will be pretty substantial.
It really will be a game changer for a lot of folks, because in it, there will be individual stimulus — you know, checks coming into people’s accounts.
And those who may be single under $75,000 and those joint filing under $150,000, I think they’ve already gotten $600, this will put another $1,400 in their accounts, which is huge. It also extends unemployment benefits — both regular unemployment but also the enhanced — clearly that means a whole lot to people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic, whose jobs are not on the horizon in the short future. So, that will be big.
There also is some money for state governments and local governments, so for instance in Eudora, they could get some funding that will allow them to continue their public safety services — your police, your fire, among other things. So, it is extraordinarily important, and will be good for places like Eudora, but also be good overall for the economy, because it will infuse billions of dollars into our local economy that will stimulate activity and that will help us get out of this economic crisis that we have as well as the health crisis.
Phase 2 has been noted as being particularly large for counting essential employees, senior citizens and other vulnerable populations. Is there anything that you would like to communicate as Kansas navigates this phase to Eudora residents in particular?
Well, I’d like them to all familiarize themselves with the website kansasvaccine.gov. There’s a tab on there you click called, “Find my vaccine,” that will let your residents know where your vaccines are being distributed and help you get the contact information you need to get signed up and make an appointment. I think it’s very important that each individual stays on top of that. I know it’s frustrating.
We’ve got so many people eligible. Obviously, we don’t have enough vaccines, but you know, the vaccines will come. People need to be patient, but they also need to be alert, so that when the day arrives, they can get in line ASAP. I just would like Eudorans to get familiar with kansasvaccine.gov. I’d like them to continue to practice self-mitigation strategies that they have been and need to continue, and that includes masking, avoiding large gatherings, keeping the physical distance from others and getting tested.
Reach reporter Nicole Asbury at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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