As the state opens up COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all adult Texans, the number of people in the Rio Grande Valley who have been fully vaccinated has reached approximately 15% while more than a quarter of the population here has received at least their first dose.
Throughout the Valley, 14.56% of the people have been fully vaccinated as of March 28 while 26.8% have received at least one dose of the available vaccine doses, according to data collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
(READ: State opens COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to most Texans)
In Hidalgo County alone, 13% of residents are now fully vaccinated while 25% have received at least one dose.
Vaccination efforts in Cameron County are slightly ahead with 16% of their residents being fully vaccinated and nearly 29% having received at least one dose.
Starr County continues to outpace the rest of the Valley, reporting that about 22% of their residents have been fully vaccinated and more than 36% received at least one dose.
In Willacy County, nearly 12% of people there are fully vaccinated while 28.6% have received at least one dose.
(READ: Hidalgo County rolling out online COVID-19 vaccine system)
This week, the state is expected to receive more than 1 million first doses, according to Imelda Garcia, DSHS associate commissioner, who spoke during a media briefing Monday.
“And our federal partners tell us that the amount of vaccine that will be coming will further increase in April,” Garcia said.
During the briefing, DSHS officials also unveiled the Texas Public Health Vaccine Scheduler, a website where all Texans can register for and be matched with vaccine appointments that match their preferences. It’s part of a two-sided system created to manager vaccine events throughout the state, according to Nancy Ejuma, DSHS deputy associate commissioner.
The vaccine scheduler, the public facing side of the system, allows individuals to sign up for an appointment to receive the vaccine through a DSHS Public Health Region or one of the 12 local health entities that are participating in the system.
On the site, which will be accessible on desktop, laptop or mobile devices, people will be prompted to create a profile, submit their information, and indicate their preference such as the time of day and whether they’d prefer to have the appointment on a weekday or weekend.
The systems will then identify the first available appointment that meets that individual’s preferences in their county of residence.
The scheduler was launched to help public health entities manage vaccination events that will be held across the state, Ejuma said
“The primary goal is to ensure that we have a place who identifies Texans who are ready and willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Ejuma said. “This will allow the DSHS Public Health regions and the local jurisdictions who are participating in the system to identify clusters of communities who are essentially ready to go in terms of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.”
“In addition to that, the system will allow us to identify those who are eligible for vaccination and ensure that once an appointment is created in the system, it is essentially matched with those individuals within a day if an appointment is available,” Ejuma added.
The other side of the system is the Client Encounter System, the provider-facing side of it, which is used to create and manage COVID-19 vaccination events.
“The goal is for us to have as many people registering in the system so we can identify exactly where they’re physically located across the state and work to create events in those communities.”
People can register at GetTheVaccine.dshs.texas.gov.
For individuals who have trouble accessing the site, they can also call (833) 832-7067, which is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.
