Gov. Laura Kelly said Wednesday that she expects the state to receive 150,000 doses to vaccinate Kansans against COVID-19 by the end of this month.
Kelly said she anticipates the state will receive its first shipment of the vaccinations from Pfizer by mid-December and a subsequent delivery from Moderna shortly thereafter.
Pfizer and Moderna have applied for emergency approval of the vaccines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA is set to review Pfizer’s request on Dec. 10 and Moderna’s request on Dec. 17.
Kelly said the vaccines will be distributed based on the “principles of maximizing benefit, minimizing harm and striving for equity, justice and fairness.
“We have laid our framework to prioritize vaccine delivery to those on the front lines of our pandemic response or those disproportionately affected by the virus,” she said.
She said the vaccinations will be free and any administrative fee charged by a health care provider can be waived if it’s unaffordable.
She cautioned that 150,000 doses will initially only go so far since two vaccinations are required for each person.
She said the first shipment from Pfizer will number 24,000 doses with another delivery of about 50,000 from Moderna.
The governor said the distribution order will start with high-risk health care workers and nursing home residents with the possibility that others will be added to that group.
The second phase, she said, calls for vaccinating those who are not high risk and are 65 and older.
Vaccinations in the third phase will go to Kansans who are not high risk and are under 65 years old.
Kelly said the goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible in the first-phase category by the end of the month.
She said vaccinations will be administered to groups in phases two and three on a rolling basis from winter to late spring.
“With this schedule we intend to protect the greatest number of Kansans, foster economic recovery and get our kids back into our school buildings as quickly and safely as possible.”
“We’ve created a timeline for vaccination distribution,” she said. “Obviously, adherence to our timeline will be dependent on receiving materials from the companies.”
She said the state health department is already working with health care providers to administer the vaccinations.
More than 200 providers are already signing up to distribute the vaccine.
“This number is growing quickly and we expect it to continue to do so,” she said.
The providers, she said, must meet certain licensing requirements, agree to conditions established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and must provide key data requirements.
She the vaccines will be delivered to prepositioned locations that were not disclosed for security reasons.
She said the state has the super refrigeration units that are needed to store the Pfizer vaccination at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Moderna says its vaccination candidate remains stable at 36 degree to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.
She said the vaccinations will be free, although health care providers can collect an administrative fee for providing the vaccination.
“No one will be turned away if they cannnot afford the administrative fee.”
