The state of Kansas announced plans to shift the way it’s handing the COVID-19 vaccination plan. The change could make many people more comfortable with getting a vaccine.
Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, explained what the shift means during a Facebook Live with doctors at the University of Kansas Health System Tuesday morning.
Hundreds of doctors’ offices, clinics, and other sites across the state of Kansas signed up to help vaccinate people. They haven’t given vaccines yet because there just hasn’t been enough supply.
Dr. Norman said that will change starting this week.
“We are going to do a lot of additional providers alerting this week, because we expect 100,000 additional Johnson and Johnson doses to be ordered this week and to come in next week,” he said.
The state plans to include medical practices, primary care, and specialty offices across Kansas that previously sighed up to become vaccinators. As the offices receive doses of the vaccine, the locations will be added to the state’s vaccine finder website. The tool is also offered in Español.
Norman said the smaller doctor’s offices are going to be a key part of the vaccination process moving forward.
“But it’s important to get vaccine in the hands of the primary care and specialty providers who know patients, they know the people really well and are going to be the ones to talk with them and hopefully defuse hesitations and fear,” Norman said.
If you hope to get a vaccine from your doctor’s office, you may want to check your patient portal for an invitation to get a vaccine starting next week. Or you could call to see if they expect to become a vaccinator in the coming days or weeks.