Texas residents, ages 50 to 64, were able to start receiving one of the three COVID-19 vaccines on Monday, March 15, after the Department of State Health Services announced it was expanding priority to that age group last week.
A newly created Phase 1C of vaccination will include those 50 and older, an age group “for which there is strong and consistent evidence of COVID-19’s life-threatening effects,” said DSHS Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt.
“Expanding vaccination to those who are at least 50 years old will protect the next most vulnerable group and advance the state’s dual priorities of reducing the burden of disease on people at the greatest risk of hospitalization and death and protecting the health care system,” Hellerstedt said. “Preventing the disease among people in this age group will dramatically reduce the number of Texans who die from the disease across all races, ethnicities and occupations.”
According to death certificate data collected by the DSHS Vital Statistics Section, some 93 percent of Texas fatalities directly caused by COVID-19 are in people 50 years old and older.
Prior to last week, all people at least 65 — which accounted for 73 percent of all COVID-19 deaths — were eligible for vaccination in the state, as were those over age 16 who had a health condition which increases risk of severe COVID-19 illness.
Hellerstedt said as Phase 1C is integrated into the vaccination schedule, the state will “continue to work with vaccine providers and other local partners to ensure that people who are in Phase 1A, 1B and 1C have access to the vaccine. Individual providers will have the flexibility to further prioritize vaccination within these groups.
“Texas will continue to strive to ensure that vaccine reaches communities with health disparities and people whose work puts them at a greater risk of exposure, in accordance with the Texas Vaccine Allocation Guiding Principles,” Hellerstedt said. “Communication and outreach will encourage vaccine uptake among eligible members of these populations during Phase 1C.”
Phase 1A originally included front-line healthcare workers and residents at long-term care facilities, but also now includes pharmacy workers, last responders and school nurses.
School and licensed child care personnel who work in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, He Start and Early Head Start programs or licensed center-based or family child care providers are alo now eligible to receive vaccination under a federal directive issued earlier this month.
Texas continues to receive doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, and is distributing statewide to hospitals, pharmacies, local health departments, freestanding ERs, and other clinics, according to the DSHS.
DSHS officials said Spring 2021 is the best estimate of when vaccine will be available for the general public. In his address to the public last week, President Joe Biden set a goal of May 1 as the time when all adults should be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
This week, the vaccine hub at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center Marble Falls was expected to receive another 1,170 doses of Pfizer vaccine, while Ascension Seton Highland Lakes Clinic in Burnet was to receive 500 Moderna doses and Lone Star Circle of Care Family Care Center in Marble Falls will receive 100 Moderna doses.
A clinic was already scheduled in Bumet for Friday, March 19, to use the 500 doses received by Ascension Seton in cooperation with the city of Burnet and Burnet County.
In Llano County, Bay Pharmacy in Horseshoe Bay and Corner Drug and Hill Country Direct Care, both in Llano, were each set to receive 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week.
