<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1607625000373.png" alt="Sen. Jerry Moran appears by video link Thursday at a news briefing from the University of Kansas Health System. (Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Sen. Jerry Moran appears by video link Thursday at a news briefing from the University of Kansas Health System. (Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By NOAH TABORDA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/12/10/moran-praises-covid-19-vaccines-offers-public-injection-to-boost-confidence/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry 
Moran on Thursday pledged his support for COVID-19 vaccines in response 
to polling that suggests half the country refuses or is reluctant to 
accept an injection.Kansas
 leaders expect to receive 23,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine within the
 next week, following Food and Drug Administration approval on Thursday. An additional batch of doses is expected once 
the FDA approves the vaccine made by another biotechnology firm, 
Moderna, with around 150,000 total expected from both companies in 
December.While
 that news may signal a more positive outlook moving forward, initial 
polling data from Pfizer indicates 20% of the American public is not 
keen on COVID-19 immunization, and 35% are still on the fence.Moran
 said during a news briefing with the University of Kansas Health System
 that he would do whatever it takes to increase public confidence in the
 shot, including receiving it in public and on camera.“I
 don’t think it’s my job to force people to be vaccinated. In fact, I am
 quite sure it’s not, but I would say that I would take the vaccine when
 it’s my time, when my prioritization comes up,” Moran said. “I’m happy 
to do it publicly and to encourage people to follow suit.”With
 the fallout from Thanksgiving right around the corner, health experts 
are touting the vaccination as necessary to keeping children in school 
and businesses open. An optimistic outlook suggests vaccines could be 
available to a wider portion of the population by May.Moran again promoted the idea of&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/11/24/moran-personal-responsibility-contract-staffing-among-solutions-to-covid-19-strain-on-hospitals/">personal responsibility.</a> Just like wearing a mask or social distancing, he said, vaccination is key to returning to some sense of normalcy.“We
 have our first grandchildren in our lives. We want to share 
Thanksgiving and Christmas with them,” Moran said. “There is so much 
that can be gained by personal responsibility in the vaccination that 
helps get us back to things that we would call normal.”Steven
 Stites, the chief medical officer for the KU Health System, joined 
Moran in praising the remarkable speed in which the vaccines were 
developed.“Operation
 Warp Speed,” the government-initiated effort to produce a vaccine, has 
been ongoing for more than six months, far less than the four years it 
required to produce the SARS-CoV-1 vaccine, Stites said.“When
 I saw the FDA’s preliminary review of the Pfizer data saying they met 
their clinical endpoints successfully, I started to cry,” Stites said. 
“I can’t tell you how meaningful that is and what a difference it is 
because it’s the beginning of a new beginning. And without it, we’re 
going to be stuck with COVID for a very long time.”Where
 the initial supply of the vaccine goes is up to each state. In Kansas, 
officials are abiding by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
recommendations in reserving the first round for frontline health care 
workers directly dealing with the virus.Next in line is long-term care facility residents and workers.Dana
 Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for KU 
Health System, said he has been in close contact with Lee Norman, 
secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, about the 
supply chain and making sure the vaccine is properly distributed. 
Vaccines will be held in undisclosed distribution centers around the 
state.“We
 want to just make sure that, No. 1, all those distribution places can 
get the supply of vaccine that they’re supposed to get, and once it gets
 in that it is safe,” Hawkinson said. “So I think there is a high level 
of not secrecy but just making sure that we can, once we get the 
vaccine, be able to distribute it as we need to.”Moran
 said he expects additional help to arrive in the form of another 
pandemic relief bill. He expects the legislation to provide another 
round of the Paycheck Protection Program but said direct payments to 
individuals are less certain.“There
 is slowly becoming what we would call here legislative text, so 
actually words on paper instead of just broad categories,” Moran said. 
“We do not want the business to go out of business and lose their 
employees. If we lose a business, certainly if we lose a hospital to 
COVID-19, those businesses often do not come back, so we need to do more
 in regard to keeping people employed and businesses open.”

Moran praises COVID vaccines, offers public injection to boost confidence