Kansas Purchases Flu Vaccine From Universities

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) will purchase 1,830 doses of flu vaccine from six universities in Kansas and redistribute the vaccine to local health departments for individuals at high risk for severe complications from the flu.

The vaccine was made available to KDHE after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requested that universities and colleges work with health departments to redistribute flu shots to priority groups. The following universities agreed to sell a portion of their current flu vaccine supplies to KDHE for redistribution to areas of need:

Emporia State University

Kansas State University

Pittsburg State University

University of Kansas

Washburn University

Wichita State University

We are so pleased that these university officials in Kansas were willing to offer up some of the flu vaccine they ordered to ensure that those people in high risk categories have better access to the vaccine this year, said Sue Bowden, KDHE immunizations program director. This generous action from the universities is greatly appreciated and will help ensure more high risk Kansans are better protected from influenza this year.

The 1,830 doses flu vaccine from the universities will be distributed according to KDHE's newly developed flu vaccine redistribution plan.

This plan provides a guideline for vaccine redistribution that helps individuals at highest risk of developing severe complications from the flu receive the vaccine first. The first priority is to make sure that every county has had enough vaccine shipped to them to cover 20 percent of the estimated high-risk population. Current estimates are that about 24,000 doses of vaccine would need to go to the following 32 health departments to get every county to the level of 20 percent coverage of the high-risk population: Anderson, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cloud, Cowley, Decatur, Greenwood, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Kingman, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morton, Norton, Osage, Osborne, Pottawatomie, Reno, Rice, Riley, Rush, Stafford, Sumner, Wallace, Wabaunsee, Woodson.

This first step is to ensure that there is a minimal level of vaccine coverage in every county and that no county would go completely without vaccine.

If there are remaining doses to redistribute after that, vaccine would be allocated and shipped to local health departments using a formula based on an estimate of the county population still at need as a proportion of the total state population at need.

Population at need was derived from the estimates of the total at-risk population in each county. From that is subtracted out the total doses of vaccine shipped to each county, by county.

The KDHE is requesting that doctors and other healthcare providers continue to provide updated information regarding flu vaccine supplies and needs by filling out the survey on the agency's Web site at: www.kdhe.state.ks.us . This information will allow the department to better match the vaccine with the areas of greatest need.

Source: KDHE