By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Doniphan County Health Department is waiting for more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Department Administrator Sheryl Pierce says that the State of Kansas is not following the guidelines outline by the CDC.
"CDC has like a 1A and 1B and so forth, we're pretty much just phases 1, 2, 3, 4, 5," Pierce tells St. Joseph Post "So kind of wanted to let the people know that, mainly we've been lots of phone calls from our 65 and older population wondering when they can get the vaccine."
Pierce adds that at this point the health department is not sure when it will get its next allotment of the vaccine.
Pierce says that the department is still trying to get through Phase 1 of the distribution plan.
"Our long-term care facilities haven't even, their residents or staff have not received a vaccine yet in Kansas."
Pierce says she felt it was important to keep the public informed on the status of the department.
"That's why we felt like we needed to get some information out, let them know that the local health departments are just waiting on pins and needles to hear from KDHE, Kansas Department of Health and Environment."
After completing Phase 1, the department will move to Phase 2.
"We've got a running list of those in Phase one that we need to finish up," Pierce says.
But Pierce adds that the process will be a little different once the department gets to Phase 2.
"We will not be taking a list of the 65 and olders, we will just do a mass media blitz and let them know when that time arrives, because we don't know how many doses we might get, we might get 300 we might get 1,000."
Pierce says the health department is working hard to keep people informed through its Facebook page as well as pushing information to church bulletins.
So far, Doniphan County has received 50 doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine and as of January 5th had distributed it all to healthcare workers.