photo by: Contributed Photo/Heartland Community Health Center

From left, Dr. Cooper Nickel, a primary care provider at Heartland Community Health Center, and his father, Dr. Graig Nickel, a family physician at Watkins Student Health Center at the University of Kansas, receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, at Heartland.

Story updated at 2:52 p.m. Tuesday:

Heartland Community Health Center received its anticipated 1,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at 9 a.m. Tuesday and began vaccinating Tier 1 health care workers slightly before 11 a.m., according to the health center’s leader.

Robyn Coventon, CEO of Heartland, said vaccine distribution was taking place at the health center, 346 Maine St., Suite 150. Those getting the vaccine will enter the building, as opposed to a drive-thru option. Coventon said a dedicated observation area was available inside for individuals post-vaccination.

Heartland has the capacity to vaccinate up to 430 people per day, Coventon said, but it anticipates the actual number will be closer to 300 per day. This week, Heartland’s hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday. No vaccine distribution will occur on Friday, which is Christmas.

Cooper Nickel and his father, Graig Nickel, received the Moderna vaccine at the same time on Tuesday. Cooper is a primary care provider at Heartland, and Graig is a family physician at Watkins Health Services at the University of Kansas.

“It’s great to see Heartland carrying out its mission of giving quality and compassionate care to all people in Lawrence, and in this case, front-line health care workers throughout the community,” Cooper said. Graig’s birthday is Tuesday, and Cooper said it was a “wonderful birthday present” to be able to call his father and tell him it was his turn to get vaccinated.

Those getting vaccinated in the first tier of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan include health care personnel, long-term care facility staff and EMS and front-line public health workers. The tier also includes residents of long-term care facilities, but those vaccinations will be handled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care Program.

Across the street at LMH Health, all 800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that had been sent to the hospital on Dec. 16 had been administered by Dec. 19, spokesperson Amy Northrop said. Northrop said the hospital was waiting for a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to arrive but that no timetable had been provided. Northrop said the hospital was also expecting to receive doses of the Moderna vaccine, although it does not have a timeline or quantity at this time.

As the Journal-World has reported, in addition to receiving its own doses of the Moderna vaccine, LMH Health was also expecting to receive 300 doses of the Moderna vaccine that were originally intended for the health department. Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health chose to transfer its doses of the Moderna vaccine to LMH Health for distribution, whereas Heartland declined the requests of county health leaders to transfer its doses.

On Tuesday, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health spokesperson George Diepenbrock said that the health department received its 300 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Monday but that it had not yet received approval of redistribution from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Until that redistribution agreement has been approved, Diepenbrock said the health department has begun to administer doses of the Moderna vaccine itself. As of Tuesday around 2:15 p.m., Diepenbrock said about 40 public health workers have received the vaccine. If KDHE does not approve the vaccine transfer by early next week, Diepenbrock said the health department would begin to vaccinate EMS responders at that time.