Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks Tuesday at the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce’s virtual Power Lunch. (Screenshot)
Gov. Laura Kelly says the state is mapping out its plan for eventual distribution of the coronavirus vaccines.
The governor was the featured speaker at Tuesday’s Power Lunch, hosted virtually over Zoom by the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re expecting actually our first shipment of the vaccine this week. We will get another shipment in another week and then there will be weekly shipments of both vaccines,” she said.
The Food and Drug Administration is anticipated to approve an emergency use application for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over the next two weeks, after recent studies found them to be about 95 percent effective. Kelly says the state will prioritize health care workers and nursing home residents to be among the first recipients, targeting full vaccination by just after the first of the year.
She also put a potential timeline on a vaccine rollout for the rest of the population.
“It really does look like we will be able to have pretty widespread vaccination by late spring, early summer,” she said.
Assuming the state gets the vaccinations and people get vaccinated, Kelly estimates a return to normal business production by summer. On the economic side, Kelly says because the vaccination process won’t happen overnight, a lot hinges on whether Congress approves a second stimulus package.
“We’ll be able to use those funds, depending upon what strings are attached, not only to shore up state and local governments, but hopefully there will be funding in there that will allow us to continue to support our workers in the state, but also our businesses,” she said.
Looking forward to the 2021 legislative session, Gov. Kelly says her administration is hoping to accomplish a number of things.
“We are doing everything we can to continue to fund our public schools. We want very much to continue funding transportation. I want as much as possible to continue to fund and beef up funding for information technology,” she said.
That includes an overhaul of the system in place at the Kansas Department of Labor, which has been reportedly using outdated computer equipment to process the thousands of unemployment claims to its office this year.
Kelly says she has begun work on the state budget process and is waiting to finalize that budget plan until Congress decides on the stimulus package.
It’s anticipated the legislature will debate a number of major issues when it convenes for the 2021 session in January, including tax policy, abortion, Medicaid expansion, higher education funding and redistricting for 2022.
Legislators will return to Topeka Jan. 11, though it’s not clear yet how or what that process will look like, given COVID-19 restrictions and protocols that may be in place at that time.
Listen to Gov. Kelly’s full remarks from Tuesday’s event below.
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