photo by: Lauren Fox

There were 10 drive-thru vaccine stations and one walk-up vaccine station inside the arena at the Douglas County Fairgrounds on Jan. 29, 2021.

Data from four local health organizations showed that more than 35,000 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Douglas County as of Thursday.

Altogether, data from the four distributors — LMH Health, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, Heartland Community Health Center and Haskell Indian Health Center — showed that 35,101 first doses and 21,030 second doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered.

That’s an increase of 5,779 first doses and 5,513 second doses since the county last reported vaccine distribution information to the Journal-World on March 18. On Wednesday, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health had its largest COVID-19 vaccination clinic to date, with 4,092 doses distributed.

The most recent vaccine distribution data shows that the four aforementioned organizations have administered 35,101 of the 37,215 first doses they have received, or around 94.3%. The four organizations have also administered 21,030 of the 25,075 second doses they have received, or around 83.9%.

With both first and second doses, those four Douglas County organizations had administered 56,131 total doses as of Thursday. That’s an increase of 11,292 doses since data was last reported on March 18.

Douglas County is currently vaccinating people in Phases 1 through 4. Phase 1 includes health care workers, residents or patients in long-term care, senior housing or independent living and workers critical to pandemic response continuity. Phase 2 includes people 65 and older, people who live in congregate settings and high-contact critical workers.

Those newly eligible as part of Phases 3 and 4 include people 16 to 64 years old who have various health conditions, including cancer, Down syndrome, certain heart conditions, diabetes, pregnancy, asthma and a few other conditions. Phases 3 and 4 also include people who work in the following occupations: agricultural and food workers; workers performing in-person activities indoors; utility workers; social service and government workers; truck drivers and logistics workers; water and wastewater workers; shelter, housing and finance workers; and information technology and communication workers.

People in Phases 3 and 4 will be selected randomly to receive a vaccine as they become available. People need to fill out the vaccine interest form online at dgcoks.org/vaccineinterestform to have their name added to the list for future vaccine appointments.

People who have questions about the COVID-19 or the vaccination process can call the county’s COVID hotline at 785-864-9000 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.