All Texans aged 50 and over will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting on Monday, expanding the group of possible recipients to nearly half the state’s population.
Now the question is how to find a chance. So far, 4.7 million Texans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, a vaccination rate of 15.8 percent that is one of the worst in the country.
State officials say they are going as fast as they can. They complained that the federal government is not sending enough vaccine because it is using old population data to calculate Texas’s share.
More than half of Texans over 65 have received at least their first dose, a milestone the state reached last week.
Texas is now vaccinating members of priority groups 1A and 1B – a subset of more than 10 million people that includes healthcare professionals, Texans aged 65 and over, and anyone over 15 with a comorbidity.
Last week, authorities made the state’s 1.3 million teachers and daycare workers eligible for a dose, a victory for educators who argued 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.
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Harris County Public Health
How to apply: The Harris County Department of Public Health is registering anyone, regardless of age or occupation, on their online waiting list. The system will prioritize people according to state vaccination criteria. You will not be allowed to schedule an appointment until you are in a prioritized group. https://vacstrac.hctx.net/landing
Patients seeking Harris Health can call 713-873-8777 to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.
Houston Department of Health
How to apply: The department now has two waiting lists available for the COVID-19 vaccine: one for the two-dose series from Pfizer and Moderna and one for Johnson & Johnson. You can sign up for automated email, text messaging, voice calling or mobile app push notifications for appointments at https://HoustonEmergency.org/covid19.
Montgomery County
How to register: Montgomery County has launched a waiting list at https://mcphd-tx.org/. The county’s public health district is filling out vaccination appointments from the waiting list. District officials said to monitor the county’s Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.
Fort Bend County
How to sign up: Visit their website at https://vaccinewaitlist.fortbendcountytx.gov/ to sign up for the waiting list. The county’s Department of Health and Human Services recommends taking the vaccine elsewhere, if given the opportunity.
Galveston County
How to apply: Galveston County and University of Texas Medical Branch launched their own waiting list, accessible by phone or web. People interested in receiving the vaccine can register regardless of where they live or whether they are patients with UTMB. Visit the website at https://www.utmb.edu/covid-19/vaccine or call 877-389-2318.
Brazoria County
How to apply: Visit the Brazoria County government website at https://www.brazoriacountytx.gov/ or call one of the four clinics to make an appointment: Angleton (979) 864-1484
Alvin (281) 585-3024
Lake Jackson (979) 265-4446
Pearland (281) 485-5344
UTMB is also vaccinating on its campus in Angleton Danbury. To sign up for the waiting list, visit the website at https://www.utmb.edu/covid-19/vaccine.
Those aged 50 and over will be included in priority group 1C, which will expand eligibility to about 12 to 14 million people. More than 93 percent of Texans who died of the virus were over 49 years old.
“We have seen a noticeable decrease in the number of hospitalizations and deaths since people aged 65 and over started being fully vaccinated in January,” said Imelda Garcia, president of the state’s Specialized Vaccine Allocation Panel, on Wednesday. “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.”
It is estimated that there are 5 million Texans aged 50 to 64, a group responsible for more than 20% of deaths in the state. More than 1 million Texans between those ages have already received at least one dose of the vaccine, health officials said.
Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that essential workers – including police, fire, grocery workers, food service workers and journalists – be prioritized for the vaccine before individuals over 50.
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, said Garcia.
She expects the weekly offer to rise again at the end of the month.
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 the 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. “
Local authorities praised the announcement as another step towards normality.
“I think it’s a good thing,” said Stephen Williams, director of the Houston Department of Health. “With the vaccine, we can certainly see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot let our guard down.”
While the federal government continues to increase the supply sent to state and local vaccine providers, cities still need 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 for elderly people living at home and rural Texans. The state also partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to open three vaccine mega-sites in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas, with the goal of inoculating underserved communities.
Black and Hispanic Texans were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, but they also received the vaccine at lower rates than whites.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo welcomed the move to Phase 1C.
“There is hope on the horizon and, little by little, we will continue to cross our population,” said Hidalgo. “This is the time to continue wearing our masks, to continue avoiding crowds and to get the vaccine as soon as it is available to us.”
County officials will continue to pressure state and federal partners for more vaccines, she said. In Harris County, 1.1 million doses have been administered and more than 351,000 people have been fully vaccinated, according to data from Hearst Newspapers.
The challenge, said Hidalgo, is not having enough doses to distribute to everyone on the waiting list.
“We knew it would be fine in the summer until we reach most of our population. This will require continued patience and perseverance, and we ask the community to continue with us on this, ”she said.
In Galveston, the county health department works closely with the University of Texas Medical Department on mass vaccination efforts.
“What I think DSHS is doing is taking temperature across the state, especially in places that have waiting lists like us, and finding out that we are getting the people we are looking for and deciding that it is time to move on,” he said. Dr. Philip Keizer, professor of medicine at UTMB and a local health authority in Galveston County. “We have a lot of people on our waiting list between 50 and 64 years old, and we don’t have that many people over 75 years old. We have some over 65, but not many. It is not enough to continue vaccinating people in the same proportion. “
Team writer Jeremy Wallace contributed to the story.