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Coping with COVID: Vaccine distribution plan details made available in Missouri, Kansas

Each state expects a COVID-19 vaccine to be available to residents before the end of the year. While not everyone will have access to the vaccine at first, distribution plans released to the public show Missouri and Kansas plan to make it available at no cost.

A COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be available within the next month or two, according to experts, but not just anyone will be able to receive it at first. Regardless, Missouri and Kansas leaders plan to make the vaccine available at no cost to residents.

Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said he expects the first doses of the vaccine could be available in the state by late November or early December.

But because the initial supply will be limited, it won’t be available to everyone. The same goes for Kansas.

In Missouri, health care workers, especially those at long-term care facilities, will receive the vaccine first. Next, first responders, essential workers and those with certain pre-existing conditions would be eligible as parts of phases one and two.

The shot would not be available to the general public until the third phase, which is estimated to begin in April.

Similarly, Kansas health care workers would be the first eligible, followed by essential workers and those with certain pre-existing conditions, which include being 65 years old and older or living in long-term care facilities. In Phase Two, vaccines would be available to the public. Kansas would then shift to a routine public health strategy in Phase 3.

As the phases progress, vaccines will be available in more places, too, from health departments to doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and eventually mobile clinics.