Jackson County Missouri and Johnson County Kansas are beginning COVID-19 vaccinations this week. There is no list for the general public to sign up for the vaccine, regardless of the age or medical condition of the person in either of the counties.
For Jackson County, this means implementing phase 1A of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. The vaccine will be available for long-term care facility residents and staff, healthcare workers (patient-facing), and healthcare personnel and staff who may have direct or indirect exposure to SARS-Cov-2 and are unable to work from home. This includes skilled-nursing facilities, long-term care facilities, assisted living, residential care, and inpatient and out-patient care facilities. This information is available at the Jackson County Health Department (https://jacohd.org). The Jackson County Health Department will notify individuals in the correct tier group to receive the vaccine based on risk status and occupation.
For Johnson County, the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment (DHE) is vaccinating only health care-associated workers, EMS, and public health staff. People who live and work in nursing homes are being vaccinated through the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care (LTC) Program.
The Johnson County DHE has the goal of vaccinating 1,000 health care workers each day. In addition, KU Medical Center will open a clinic this week, including this weekend, to vaccinate 1,700 Johnson County Healthcare workers. JCDHE and KU Medical Center are working on the logistics of how to get people registered for vaccination at their facility.
If you are a health-care associated worker and your employer has not provided a date for you to be vaccinated, please have someone from your office complete the online form to let JCDHE know your staff is interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccine: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JOCOCOVID. If you have already completed this form, no other action is necessary. By completing this form, health care practices/organizations will be placed on a list and will be notified when the vaccine becomes available.
Prior to today, JCDHE received 1,200 doses from KDHE and 2,800 from Health Partnership Clinic; JCDHE has more than 25,000 healthcare providers to be vaccinated. For more information, visit www.jocogov.org/coronavirus.
–Amy Buster | Metro Voice
