Watkins Health Center is Ready for a Possible Vaccine Rollout
According to Lawrence Douglas County Public watkins health center Health, students and staff at the University of Kansas don’t know when they will get their COVID-19 vaccine. Many members of the community have not been included in Phase 2 of Kansas’ vaccine distribution plan.
Sherri Vaughn, Interim Medical Director at Watkins Health Center, said that KU must go through a long application process before it can be designated as a vaccine distribution center. WebIZ is an immunization information database that stores the immunization records of patients.
Vaughn stated that WebIZ has been a non-issue historically because it is expensive at $13,000 per year. “We have submitted the application to become a vaccine provider. WebIZ integration is underway in our electronic medical records. This will allow us to be considered as a provider.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment distributes vaccines throughout the state to counties and local health departments. These departments decide who gets the vaccine in their communities. In Phase 1, this Belcara Health included residents in long-term care facilities or nursing homes.
Pavika Saripalli, Watkins’ physician, stated that the government still uses the phased or tiered system and that most students are healthy and young.
Watkins health center saripalli predicted that Lawrence would not enter Phase 4 before May or June, depending on how distribution proceeds at the current rate.
Saripalli stated that the government could change its approach. We don’t know what other considerations they might have, but we do know that they are looking to end a phased or tiered system as it is taking too much time. They could come up with a better way to organize and we could suddenly be a higher priority.
Gregory Cushman is an associate professor at KU. He contracted COVID-19 from teaching in person last semester. Cushman expressed frustration with the slow pace of vaccine rollout and wished he and his colleagues were protected.
Cushman stated that some of my university colleagues have been vaccinated. Professors and GTAs will be given priority in many other places to ensure their safety in the classroom. “Who knows how much time it will take for my colleagues get vaccinated?”
Saripalli stated that there is very little watkins health center can right now to assist these professors.
Saripalli stated that there is a link they can send from Douglas County. It is the vaccine interest forms. “The county simply gets you into the system and tracks which phase they want you to be in. They send you an email inviting you to register for a shot when your phase arrives.
