Texans 50 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine from March 15, state health officials announced on Wednesday.
“We have seen a noticeable reduction in the number of hospitalizations and deaths since people aged 65 and over started being fully vaccinated in January,” said Imelda Garcia, chairman of the state’s Specialized Vaccine Allocation Panel, in a press release. “Expansion to the ages of 50 to 64 will continue the state’s priorities of protecting those most at risk of serious outcomes and preserving the state’s health system.”
Currently, the state is vaccinating members of priority groups 1A and 1B – a subset of more than 9 million people that includes health professionals, Texans aged 65 and over, and anyone over the age of 15 who has a pre-existing disease .
Last week, state officials also made daycare workers and teachers eligible for a dose, a victory for educators who argued that they deserve access earlier because of their exposure to students at work. The US Department of Health and Human Services has instructed all states to make the change.
Those aged 50 and over will be placed in priority group 1C. More than 93 percent of Texans who died of the virus were over 49 years old.
There are an estimated 5 million Texans aged 50 to 64, a group responsible for more than 20% of deaths in the state, health officials said. More than 1 million Texans between those ages have already received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the statement.
So far, Texas has administered more than 7 million doses of vaccine: nearly 4.7 million people have received at least one dose and 2.5 million Texans are fully inoculated.
“We have come a long way in a very short period of time,” testified Garcia before a committee in the Texas Senate on Wednesday morning, adding that vaccine providers “have been striving to get guns shot as quickly as physically and possibly can. “
Still, Texas has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with 15.8% of residents having received at least one vaccine.
Three vaccines have been approved for distribution in the United States. Two of them, made by Pfizer and Moderna, require two injections – given about a month apart – for complete immunization. The third is a single injection vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.
The 1C announcement was made the same day that Texas lifted its COVID restrictions, including the mask order that Governor Greg Abbott implemented last July to slow the spread of the virus. Abbott cited the rapid increase in vaccinations as part of the reason for the removal of state mandates.
“Most of the elderly have already received an injection,” tweeted the governor on Wednesday. “Elderly people who have not received an injection and want one, will still be prioritized. Always voluntary. “
Meanwhile, local officials hailed the announcement as another step towards normality.
“I think it’s a good thing,” said Stephen Williams, director of the Houston Department of Health.
While the federal government continues to increase supplies sent to state and local vaccine suppliers, the city still needs additional doses to keep the flow of vaccines going to communities most at risk for the virus, he said.
The authorities have launched a series of new initiatives in recent weeks to reach these vulnerable groups, including two mobile vaccination programs to target elderly people living at home and rural Texans. The state has also partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to open three vaccine mega-sites in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas, which specifically aim to inoculate underserved communities.
Black and Hispanic Texans were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, but they also received the vaccine at lower rates than their white counterparts.
“With the vaccine, we can certainly see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot let our guard down,” said Williams.
This week, Texas received more than 1 million first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, a record number attributed mainly to the addition of 240,000 units of the Johnson & Johnson One-shot vaccine. But next week, Texas will not receive any doses of this vaccine due to a federal shortage, negatively impacting the state’s overall allocation, Garcia said.
She expects the weekly offer to rise again at the end of the month. The Biden government announced on Wednesday that it would buy an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Editors Julie Garcia, Gwendolyn Wu and Jeremy Wallace contributed to the report.