The mass vaccination event hosted by Starr County Memorial Hospital is set to begin Thursday morning after the hospital board president confirmed they had received the 1,000 vaccine doses the state allocated to them last week.
Dr. Jose Vazquez, the board president, said Tuesday the hospital would begin administering the vaccine doses on Thursday, Friday and Saturday — vaccinating 350 people the first two days and another 300 people on Saturday.
The vaccines will be distributed by appointment to individuals who already pre-registered with the county last month either through a registration hotline or the county’s online form.
Registration is now closed but there are about 4,500 individuals on that list.
“We have 4,500 people that had previously registered with the county and are in line to receive this vaccine,” Vazquez said in a video message posted on social medial. “We have just a 1,000 doses, we cannot honor all of those people in this list, however, I want you all to make sure that we are going to be following the guidelines and we are going to be fair and we are going to be administering this vaccine to those that need (it) the most.”
State guidelines instruct healthcare providers to prioritize individuals who fall under two categories — Tier 1A or Tier 1B.
Tier 1A includes healthcare workers while Tier 1B includes people 65 years old and older or people 16 and older with a chronic medical condition, according to information listed on the Texas Department of State Health Services’ website.
When it comes to Tier B, though, Vazquez said the hospital will be prioritizing people who are 65 and older.
As the hospital reaches out to people on the list to schedule a vaccination appointment, Vazquez assured they would be screening those individuals to ensure they do fall under those tier groups.
There is also hope for those who missed out on the initial pre-registration with the county as Vazquez said the county applied for another 2,500 vaccine doses yesterday. If approved, he said the county would re-open registration.
“Hopefully within the next few weeks, we will be able to host other vaccination events,” Vazquez said in the video message. “I want you all to know that Starr County Memorial Hospital as well as Judge Eloy Vera’s office are committed to keep fighting for you all and to find more of these vaccines and to continue with mass vaccination events.”
