BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. – 59-year-old Baxter Springs resident Timothy Fish has been waiting for this day for what seems like forever.
At first, he wasn’t eligible to receive a vaccine because he didn’t fall into the first few phases. And then, last week, he had a heart attack and had to spend time in the hospital.
“They put in a stint in and three, three and a half days later I got out. And I was ready to get out. Tired of being used as a pin cushion,” says Fish.
But he was happy to be a pin cushion again on Monday when he was at Wolkar Drug.
“Found out while I was here doin’ something else that I could get it, and I could get it right now. I was like, ‘Can I do it? Yeah sure,’” explains Fish.
“We didn’t have any doses scheduled. But we had, with the opening up of the new phase, we had a lot of interest,” says Brian Caswell, Owner of Wolkar Drug.
The state of Kansas on March 29th opened up phase five of the vaccine distribution plan for the state, making every Kansan 16 and older eligible for the vaccine.
So Caswell decided to put together a small on the spot clinic, where the pharmacy would pop open a vial of doses if at least ten people committed to getting a dose before 6 p.m. on the same day.
“It’s a little riskier, but I think early in the stage like this we’ll be able to fill up that ten,” says Caswell. “And if not, then we won’t open the vial and have everyone else schedule an appointment for a little later on.”
Caswell isn’t sure if that’s something they will continue to do though — since they don’t want to waste any doses of any of the vaccine. So moving forward, they will continue to rely on appointment based clinics. But no matter how they do it, Caswell says they’re ready to get doses into arms as quickly as possible.
“It just creates this feeling of like liberation. Knowing that I’m able to make that step to a new normal,” says Caswell.
“I hope that this gives me some protection and I mean, you gotta protect yourself and everybody else,” says Fish. “I just hope that it’s the start of a better future.”
To schedule a vaccination appointment at Wolkar Drug, call 620-856-5555. Wolkar Drug currently only has Moderna vaccine available. The pharmacy has received doses of the Johnson and Johnson single-dose vaccine, but all of the doses that are up for grabs have been used, and Caswell isn’t sure when they will receive more.
You can find COVID-19 vaccine near you at https://vaccinefinder.org/search/.
Local Health Departments.
KOAM also reached out to many of our local health departments to see how they plan to facilitate vaccine distribution now that the state is in the final phase. We have how some of them plan to do that, as well as details for upcoming vaccination clinics below.
Cherokee County.
According to Public Information Officer David Groves, the Cherokee County Health Department will continue to move forward with vaccine clinics that are appointment based.