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Kansas City VA Medical Center to wait longer for vaccine

The metro VA hospital along with Kansas VA locations were not included on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ preliminary COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. By not receiving the first round of doses, Kansas City VA Medical Center and others will now have to wait weeks.

The Kansas City VA Medical Center will not be receiving any COVID-19 vaccines during the first round of shipments.

Now, local VA hospital workers and patients will have to wait weeks before the facility expects to receive its first doses.

Of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ preliminary COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, the Kansas City VA Medical Center and Kansas VA locations were not included.

Thirty-seven of the 141 nationwide VA locations were chosen, including the St. Louis VA Health Care System and the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.

The Kansas City VA Medical Center is in a metropolitan area exceeding 2 million people, with a service area of more than 200,000 veterans and is a primary referral center for the VA Heartland Network.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the 37 VA locations chose across the nation were strategic.

Priority was given to frontline staff and veterans who are long-term residents at VA extended care and assisted living centers and sites based on locations’ with potential to reach large numbers of people.

The VA said once vaccine supply has stabilized, expansion will begin.