Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins censors the state for cutting COVID vaccines

The state is penalizing tens of thousands of people waiting for the COVID-19 vaccine after reducing the number of doses sent to the two largest counties in northern Texas, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said on Monday.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it would dramatically reduce the number of vaccines it sends to Dallas and Tarrant counties, as the federal government has been set to open sites here that will vaccinate 126,000 people.

Jenkins said the cut means that Texans across the state will have to wait at least three weeks for the chance to be vaccinated in Dallas or Tarrant counties.

That’s because the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s injections into North Texas for the next three weeks are reserved for the region’s most vulnerable residents in specific neighborhoods. Meanwhile, state-authorized providers, such as the Dallas County Department of Health, must vaccinate anyone who meets the state’s eligibility requirements, regardless of where they live.

“Northern Texas should not be punished,” said Jenkins, criticizing the state for its decision during a virtual meeting with The Dallas Morning News Editorial board. “There is no reason why our struggle to obtain more vaccines that do not harm the state for a vaccine should result in the state effectively deceiving our residents.”

A Texas health department spokesman said last week that new federal resources in Dallas and Tarrant counties have allowed the state to send vaccines to other counties that have not received a fair distribution.

The state this week, however, has not reduced the number of shots sent to Harris County, which includes Houston, where a third FEMA-managed site is due to open this week. The health department said the state’s largest county has not received a reasonable amount of injections based on population.

The launch of federal distribution programs this week represents a dramatic escalation in vaccines for the state, which has already inoculated more than 3 million people with at least one of the two doses. Including shots distributed directly by FEMA, Dallas and Tarrant counties are expected to have a slight increase in the total number of shots. However, these are not the unexpected doses that North Texas leaders expected.

The state’s decision to reduce the number of doses is not a surprise. State officials, in the days following the announcement of the federal program, telegraphed that a reduction would be possible.

The state defines the number of doses that each municipal center receives each week. And, said Jenkins, the state health department has already signaled an opening to restore the county lot. A department spokesman did not confirm any conversations between Jenkins and the health department, but said that decisions have not yet been made for next week’s doses.

At one point during Jenkins’ meeting with The news’ editorial advice, he suggested without evidence that Governor Greg Abbott played a role in reducing firing.

“This governor is, you know, very involved in managing things on a day-to-day basis,” said Jenkins. “But I don’t have a window to share in the conversations that take place with the governor and his team about these vaccine distributions.”

An Abbott spokesman said it is the health department’s Specialized Vaccine Allocation Panel, not the governor’s office, that decides the number of vaccines each provider receives. The panel is made up of a group of 17 doctors, state officials and legislators.

Jenkins and Abbott have been fighting since the pandemic began.

The fight for vaccines occurs when the Dallas County Health Department runs out of doses. Shooting shipments have been delayed in the state and across the country due to last week’s severe winter. The Dallas County Department of Health delivered approximately 5,000 booster doses between Sunday and Monday.

“At the moment, we no longer have vaccines,” said Jenkins.

All three FEMA locations are expected to open on Wednesday and by appointment only.

In Dallas, residents of 17 zip codes from all corners of the county will be invited to take the photo. Areas were selected based on a variety of factors, including age and concentration of chronic diseases.

Neighborhoods in zip codes selected based on federal government criteria include: Forest Meadow at 75243 in the north of the city; in the east, the Club Estates and Casa Ridge Heights underdevelopments at Mesquite’s 75150; in the south, both Joppa and the Dallas College Cedar Valley Campus in 75241; and in the west, Plymouth Park and Irving Heights neighborhoods in 75061 of Irving.

Dallas County has so far identified some 18,000 people who qualify for the vaccine in these postal codes, said Jenkins. It was not clear on Monday how many people had scheduled appointments.

Registering black and Latino residents, those who are older or who do not have access to the Internet has been difficult for the county. Jenkins was scheduled to lead a conference call with City Council members and religious leaders on Monday night to discuss ways to enroll residents in these neighborhoods.

If the county cannot fill all inquiries with residents at the 17 zip codes, they will expand to other neighborhoods using the same criteria, said Jenkins.

Team writer Allie Morris contributed from Austin.