photo by: AP File Photo

In this May 4, 2020, photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the first patient enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, receives an injection.

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Kansas, but much is still unknown about the first phase of the distribution process in Douglas County.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine for emergency use on Friday, and some health care workers in Wichita began receiving shots on Monday, according to The Associated Press. But it is unknown exactly when the vaccine will arrive at Lawrence’s hospital, as well as how many doses the county will receive, LMH Health spokeswoman Amy Northrop said. And while front-line health care workers and long-term care residents are first in line for the vaccine, it’s still unclear where other residents will fall on the list of priorities.

Here is some of what is known — and unknown — about the vaccine distribution process in Douglas County:

Who will get the vaccine in the initial phase of distribution?

Candidates for the first phase of vaccine distribution, Phase 1A, include “healthcare personnel who are likely to be exposed to or treat people with COVID-19 or infectious materials and are unable to work from home,” according to a Dec. 8 news release from LMH Health. This phase includes front-line health care providers, EMTs, paramedics and law enforcement officers and firefighters who respond to medical calls. It also will include residents of long-term care facilities, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health told the Journal-World on Monday.

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health has been working with health care providers throughout Douglas County to reach out to workers and see who wants to receive the vaccine. So far, the county has received responses from 1,500 health care workers, and 80% have opted in for the vaccine, health department spokesman George Diepenbrock said Monday. Health care workers who qualify to receive the vaccine in Phase 1A will be sent a link to schedule an appointment for vaccination at LMH Health, Northrop said.

The health department also said on Monday that vaccination for long-term care facilities’ residents will be handled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care Program. The program is a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and retail pharmacies CVS and Walgreens, and it lets long-term care facilities arrange for those pharmacies to come to the facilities and vaccinate residents at no cost. More information can be found on the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services’ website.

Where will initial vaccine distribution take place?

LMH Health is the primary vaccination site for Phase 1A of Douglas County’s vaccination process. Northrop said the hospital would have a drive-thru vaccination center on the northwest corner of its campus.

When will the general population get the vaccine?

The general population is expected to be able to receive the vaccine by late spring or early summer, according to the health department. But on Monday, a lot of the specifics for future phases of vaccine distribution remained unclear.

The Associated Press has reported that the second phase of vaccine distribution would prioritize essential workers, including grocery and meatpacking plant workers.

As of Monday afternoon, local health officials had no specific information about distribution for Phase 1B and beyond. Northrop said the health department was still working on those plans.

Northrop said that there would be a triage process to decide which populations receive the vaccine first, and that it would be based on guidance from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. As the state makes the hospital and local health department aware of how the vaccine should be distributed, the health department will provide notifications via news releases. Northrop said LMH Health would also share notifications through its newsletters to the community and patients, as well as on its website, lmh.org.

In a virtual town hall discussion last week about COVID-19, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Director Dan Partridge briefly mentioned Phase 1B and the general population vaccine distribution, but he said he didn’t have much information to share because of how fluid the situation was.

“I wouldn’t want to create a false expectation out there, but what is pretty certain is we’re working to triage and get the vaccine to (residents) in a prioritized way,” he said.

Diepenbrock said an enrollment process for those who qualify for Phase 1B will be announced at a future date when it is ready.

Is the vaccine free?

The vaccine will be free. Northrop said vaccination providers would be able to charge an administration fee, but the providers could get this fee reimbursed by a patient’s public or private insurance provider. Uninsured patients may get the fee reimbursed by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund.

Will vaccine distribution be prioritized to people who have not previously had COVID-19?

Citing information shared in a CDC webinar on Saturday, Northrop said vaccines would be offered to people regardless of their history of prior symptomatic or asymptomatic infection.

How long will the first round of vaccination take, and when will more doses arrive?

Neither of these questions has been answered yet.

LMH Health is unsure how long it will take to vaccinate the first round of recipients because it does not yet know how many doses it will receive in its first allotment.

Once those shots are used up, it’s also not clear when future doses will arrive. The Associated Press reported that state officials anticipated receiving doses of a vaccine made by Moderna later this month, but the FDA has yet to authorize that vaccine’s emergency use.