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Coping with COVID: Kansas City, Mo. Vaccine Task Force members announced, to soon begin work 

Appointees to the Kansas City COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force have been announced. The task force was formed to improve equal access to vaccinations in the community, the group consisting of professionals from Truman Medical Centers, Saint Luke’s, Research Medical Center and others.

Establish with the passage of a resolution during a Kansas City Council meeting last week, appointments to the Kansas City COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force have been announced.

With the goal of getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, item one for the COVID-19 vaccine task force is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Kansas City’s health care system.

Appointed members of the group consist promarily of professionals from area hospitals and health systems.

The task force has seven members:

  • Renita Mollman, Chair – Burns & McDonnell, Chief Administrative Officer
  • Rex Archer – Kansas City Health Department, Director of Public Health
  • Valerie Chow – Truman Medical Centers, Retired Anesthesiologist
  • Kathryn Knotts – Truman Medical Centers, Director of Government Relations
  • Olevia M. Pitts – Research Medical Center, Chief Medical Officer
  • Jeron Ravin – Swope Health Services, President and Chief Executive Officer

Diane Trimble – St. Luke’s Hospital System, Chief Nursing Officer

“Over the past several weeks and months, I have met with hospitals and healthcare leaders across Kansas City to see the vaccination process, and to encourage increased health institution collaboration city- and region-wide to protect our community,” Kansas City, Mo. Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a news release.

Lucas said the group’s work will work toward faster vaccination of vulnerable populations and will make it easier for all Kansas Citians—particularly those without regular internet access—to determine where and how to get vaccinated.