News Release
Jan. 7, 2021
Next week, Texas will direct most
of the COVID-19 vaccine received from the federal government to large providers
who can vaccinate a total of more than 100,000 people. Additional vaccine will
be distributed to smaller providers in other parts of the state.
As the vaccination effort continues
to expand to people who are at a greater risk of hospitalization and death, in
addition to front-line health care workers, these vaccination hubs will provide
people in those priority populations with identifiable sites where vaccination
is occurring and a simpler way to sign-up for an appointment with each
provider.
Providers that receive the larger
amounts of vaccine will vaccinate health care workers, people who are 65 and
older, and those who have a medical condition that increases their risk of
severe disease or death. They also agree to provide a registration phone number
and website and focus on areas and populations hardest hit by COVID-19 while
vaccinating people from surrounding areas.
The Texas Department of State
Health Services surveyed vaccine providers about their capacity to operate
large, community vaccination sites the week of Jan. 11 and will publish a list
of vaccine hub providers later this week once vaccine allocation is finalized.
Large and small sites around Texas
will receive a total of about 200,000 doses of vaccine next week. That will be the
last week the state is required to reserve doses to vaccinate residents and
staff of long-term care facilities under the federal pharmacy-LTC partnership, freeing up more vaccine for use
in other settings in the future.
Vaccine remains limited based on
the capacity of the manufacturers to produce it, so it will take time for Texas
to receive enough vaccine for the people in the priority populations who want
to be vaccinated. The supply is expected to increase in the coming months, and
additional vaccines are in clinical trials and may be authorized by the Food
and Drug Administration. Providers should use all doses allocated to administer
the first dose of vaccine to people. There is no need to reserve shots for a
second dose because they will get a matching number of doses for that at the
appropriate time.
People can find more information on
COVID-19 vaccine and its availability at dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine.aspx.
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(News Media Contact: pressofficer@dshs.texas.gov)