Dallas County providers preparing to vaccinate high-risk group next week
DALLAS - The race is now on for vaccine providers in Dallas County to gear up and start vaccinating people at high risk of COVID-19 complications.
"The issue is how do we vaccinate so many Americans? When you crunch the numbers, it is a formidable challenge," said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Dr. Hotez said Operation Warp Speed succeeded at getting the vaccines out but passing the baton to the states has not been so smooth.
"What happens when boxes of vaccines arrive? It’s almost like we are now realizing we are getting boxes of Ikea furniture and only now realizing it is assembly required," he explained.
A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services told FOX 4 by email that vaccine doses at some clinics in El Paso were at risk of expiring before the state stepped in to transport them to local health departments.
Stephen Love, the president and CEO the DFW Hospital Council, said hospitals in North Texas have all quickly gotten the vaccine to the highest priority groups.
"I’ve talked to hospital CEOs. Everyone is telling me they are working as expeditiously as possible to get the vaccine out quickly," he said.
But Love said there is a lot of paperwork involved that could be delaying the state’s data on the vaccine distribution.
"That process has gone very slow. So when you look at the numbers the state has, it is low compared to the actual number of vaccines administered. I think that has created some confusion," he said.
Arlington is one of the few places where doses were administered first-come, first-serve to an expanded group of priority recipients.
LINK: Who is eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in Texas
That meant long lines in the rain until the fire department ran out of its 3,000 doses Thursday morning.
Dr. Hotez said given the huge volumes of people who will need to get the vaccine, local leaders will need to figure things out in a hurry.
The state needs to keep things simple with possibly less emphasis on who gets the vaccine first and more emphasis on large-scale clinics at spacious locations like sports stadiums, he said.
"Not a lot of time for hand wringing and thinking about it. This is all we have in controlling COVID-19 and losing 3,000 people a day," he said.
State officials said there are providers in Dallas County gearing up to vaccinate people 65 or older or with high-risk medical conditions when new shipments are received next week.
Texas has a website of COVID-19 vaccine providers but residents are urged to check with those providers to find out more about availability.