Washington– U.S. Senator Roger Marshall appeared on FOX Business Wednesday to discuss ongoing mask mandates and an increase in vaccine hesitancy saying in part, “We need to be focused on getting vaccines into people’s arms right now so that we do achieve that herd immunity here in the United States," according to a release from his office.
"We’re not being rewarded for getting the vaccine – we should be able to get rid of these masks. It’s the vaccine hesitancy that’s going to be holding us back now, not the number of vaccines available." Marshall said.
"We know the vaccines work, and that’s why people need to go get their vaccines. So people can be as free as they were once before.”
About three-quarters of Kansas counties have turned down new shipments of the coronavirus vaccine at least once over the past month as demand slows, according to the Associated Press.
State data shows that six counties that have rejected allocations for four straight week, 33 for one week, 26 for two weeks and 16 for three weeks. Only 24 counties, mostly the larger ones such as Shawnee, Johnson and Sedgwick, haven’t turned down any shipments.
The slowdown is coming even though just 37% of the state’s residents have received at least one vaccine dose, state data shows.