As Registration Continues & Lines Grow, Texas Will Receive More COVID Vaccine Doses Next Week
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The state of Texas has learned next week it'll receive more than 385,000 vaccine doses to combat COVID-19. That's 50,000 more doses – a 16% increase – than it's been allotted in recent weeks.
Most of the vaccine will continue to go to large, mega vaccine centers. "These hubs are so successful that they really use all of the vaccine within the first few days of receiving it," said Texas Health Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt.
More than 1.5 million Texans have now received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
In a town hall meeting hosted by State Senator Royce West on Tuesday, Dr. Hellerstedt predicted we'll soon see the impact. "We're going to start to see sustainable decreases in the number of individuals who are in hospitals on any given day in Texas, and that will be a blessed day indeed," he said.
Wednesday, Dallas County commissioners will hold an emergency meeting to discuss local vaccination efforts. They're expected to approve a new marketing campaign and the hiring of a company to improve the county's vaccine registration and scheduling system. They'll also review who is being prioritized for vaccination.
Senator West says getting the vaccine to hard hit areas in south Dallas is a major concern. "If you have a situation where you know a specific geographical area has an overrepresentation of people testing positive, comorbidity issues, and dying then we need to make certain we do everything in our power to address that," he said.
One big hurdle has been reaching minority communities to make sure they're educated on both the benefits of the vaccine and on how to get it.
"How am I going to ask for diversity if African American and Latinos in these very hard hit zip codes are not registered to be vaccinated?," questioned Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia. "We need to be sure the education and awareness is there and that they get registered."
Garcia will be on a Spanish language panel Thursday evening to address concerns that may have kept people from signing up.
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