BY NICOLE ASBURY
Over 100 Eudora teachers and staff members have received the COVID-19 vaccine, according to data provided from the school district.
Twenty-two staff members were scheduled to receive the vaccine Wednesday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, district spokesman Mark Dodge said. Those 22 doses bring the total to about 116 teachers and staff members who have received the vaccine through the school district’s participation in Phase 2 of vaccine distribution.
Some staff members and teachers received the vaccine outside of the school district, so the data doesn’t wholly show total numbers of staff members and teachers vaccinated.
In total, 186 staff members and teachers signed up to receive the vaccine through the Eudora School District. After Wednesday’s clinic, that means about 62% of those who signed up have received their vaccine. Roughly 250 individuals are employed directly through the school district.
“Everyone who wants a vaccine, we’re well on our way to getting that accomplished,” Dodge said.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly previously said in a call with elected officials that every teacher would likely be vaccinated by the end of this week, The Wichita Eagle reported.
Under the vaccination plan launched by Kelly earlier in February, counties receive vaccines specifically earmarked for educators. In addition to vaccines allocated specifically for school district employees, school districts also receive free rapid COVID-19 tests.
“I want to make clear that we are able to implement the back-to-school education plan because Kansas is receiving substantially more doses than we had been,” Kelly said during a news conference in February.
Meanwhile, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, introduced a bill into the Kansas Legislature that requires all school districts across the state to return to fully in-person instruction by March 26. The bill takes power away from county health authorities to determine whether a hybrid model or remote learning should take place based the spread of the coronavirus in the county.
Eudora returned to in-person instruction Monday, after county health authorities determined it would be safe to do so.
Overall, Douglas County has administered nearly 19,600 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to county residents, according to data provided by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Friday. Roughly 7,400 residents have received their second dose of the vaccine.
Around 1,950 people are scheduled to receive their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the Douglas County Fairgrounds public clinic Wednesday, said George Diepenbrock, a spokesman for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. Another about 1,350 individuals will receive their second dose of the vaccine at the public health clinic Friday.
The state is receiving around 145,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines each week, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman said during a news conference with the University of Kansas Health System Tuesday. Previously, the state was receiving around 45,000 vaccine shots per week.
“The vaccine rollout continues to be solid,” Norman said. “We had one week where we didn’t have anything shipped to us because of the bad weather and the planes weren’t flying. But last week was catch up week — this week more so.”
Kansas is expected to see its first shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine later this week, Norman said. It will receive roughly 23,400 doses of the single-shot vaccine.
“We’re handling it as the third weapon in the arsenal of the COVID virus,” Norman said.
Kansas health officials project the state won’t receive another shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine until March 23, Norman said Tuesday.
Douglas County health officials will learn later this week if the county will be allotted a percentage of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Diepenbrock said.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that with efforts to ramp up production, there would be enough vaccines for every American adult by the end of May.
As vaccines continue to roll out, Douglas County health officials launched a countywide COVID-19 helpline to answer questions about the vaccination process, testing and symptoms of the disease.
The helpline starts operating Wednesday. People can call 785-864-9000 to get their questions answered by trained staff.
It will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturday, people can call in between 8 a.m. and noon.
“We are thrilled to be able to launch this much-needed service in the Douglas County community,” Douglas County Emergency Management Director Robert Bieniecki said in a news release. “Unified Command agencies and partners have been overwhelmed with thousands of phone calls from citizens seeking information related to COVID.”
Reach reporter Nicole Asbury at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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