After two months at Intrust Bank Arena, Sedgwick County is relocating one of its COVID-19 vaccine clinics to the former central library in downtown Wichita.
The county began administering vaccines at Intrust in late December. County commission Chairman Pete Meitzner says the county doesn’t “want to overstay our welcome."
“We don’t want to hinder Intrust’s ability to start having shows and bringing back the economy,” he said at a news conference Thursday. “And obviously if you’ve been there, you saw how we kind of owned the building.”
Starting Monday, the county will administer vaccines at the old central library building at 223 S. Main, just a few blocks west of the arena. The building has been vacant since 2018, when Wichita opened the Advanced Learning Library.
The city says parking will be available in the lot south of the building.
Meitzner says work has already started to set the former library up as a clinic.
“We know now that we’re going to be here for the foreseeable future,” he said. “Probably months.”
The county is currently offering the vaccine to residents 70 and older and health care associated workers. A drive-through vaccine clinic is at the Wichita Transit Center on East Waterman.
Appointments are required for both sites.
As of Thursday, the county has administered more than 34,000 doses of the vaccine. That doesn’t include vaccines distributed by individual clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and schools.
