SMITH CENTER, KAN. – The Smith County Health Department and Smith County Memorial Hospital have partnered to create an online COVID-19 vaccine request form for the public. The form is available on the hospital website at scmhks.org/VaccineRequest.
“We have been taking calls from the public about the vaccine for weeks,” said Laura Hageman, director of the health department. “Unfortunately, information isn’t coming to us very quickly, so we aren’t aware of how much vaccine we’ll get or when we’ll get it.”
Personnel at both the health department and the hospital are hopeful that they will receive advanced warning and can contact Smith County residents with enough time to make arrangements.
“When we received vaccine for healthcare workers, we had only a few hours of notice,” said Kristie Clancy, the hospital’s pharmacy nurse. “We were called the night before and the vaccine was delivered the next afternoon.”
The timing is important because both vaccines have a relatively short shelf life. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine will only last 120 hours from the time it is removed from the freezer, shipped to facilities and administered to people. The Moderna vaccine can be refrigerated, but as soon as a vial is opened to give a dose, the rest of the vial must be used in six hours.
“After healthcare workers, we will prioritize other essential workers and then move on to those 65 and older,” Hageman said. “The last thing we want to do is waste any of the doses we are allowed. We want to be prepared to contact individuals when the vaccine becomes available for the public.”
The public is encouraged to sign up regardless of what phase of the Kansas prioritization plan they fall into. The prioritization plan can be found on the state’s COVID-19 website and outlines the five phases for vaccine distribution.
“We know most of our residents fall into Phase 2 and as soon as we can, we’ll begin working through the request list to contact individuals,” Hageman said.
While the state hasn’t moved to Phase 2 yet, local health facilities find that they could be ready to vaccinate the public soon.
“The public should expect that when we contact them, we might only have 24 to 48 hours to hold their dose,” Clancy said. “Based on what we have seen so far, we expect the process to move very quickly once the vaccine is shipped to our area.”
Hageman and Clancy hope that most county residents sign-up for the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We’ve seen and heard rumors about the vaccine not being safe, causing lifelong side effects or even injecting people with microchips,” said Clancy. “None of this is based in science.”
While healthcare workers in the area have experienced some side effects from the vaccine, including headache, sore or achy muscles and pain at the injection site, Clancy says, they are glad to be getting the vaccine.
“None of these side effects compare to having COVID-19 or the risk of getting the virus,” Clancy said.
The hospital providers have been using social media to help combat some of the false information about the vaccine.
“This is the best solution to stop the spread of the virus,” said Ferrill Conant, a family physician at the hospital and the county’s health officer. “Using masks and social distancing hasn’t worked well to prevent spread. Treatments are OK but have not provided the resolution we want. The only real solution to this pandemic is the vaccine.”
Conant reminds the public that the vaccine went through the normal medical trials expected for any treatment or medication. Pfizer tested its vaccine on 40,000 individuals of varying demographic and health backgrounds, which resulted in 95 percent effectiveness.
“This vaccine isn’t new as of 2020,” Conant said. “Researchers and scientists have been working on this technology since 2003 when Asia experienced SARS CoV1. The public should feel secure in the research and testing that has been done.”
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccines or to request a vaccine, visit scmhks.org/vaccine.