Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that the state will receive more than 1.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this month.
The vaccines, made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, should arrive the week of Dec. 14 and will be distributed to qualifying providers across the state who will be charged with administering the immunizations based on the Vaccine Distribution Principles developed by the state’s Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, Abbott stated in a press release.
Additional allotments might be made later this month, as well as in January and the following months.
“The State of Texas is already prepared for the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine, and will swiftly distribute these vaccines to Texans who voluntarily choose to be immunized,” said Abbott. “As we await the first shipment of these vaccines, we will work with communities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
Health care workers who provide direct care for COVID-19 patients and other vulnerable residents will be the first group to receive the vaccine. This includes staff and hospitals and long-term care facilities, emergency medical services and home health care workers.
The EVAP panel will then decide how and when to roll out vaccine to other critical groups.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, 1.18 million cases of coronavirus have been reported in Texas with 21,549 COVID-19 related deaths. Cameron County is reporting 26,151cases, Hidalgo County is reporting 43,020 cases, Starr County is reporting 4,098 cases and Willacy County is reporting 1,376.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there are 13, 869,361 cases of coronavirus nationwide with 272,820 COVID-19 related deaths.
Abbott recently came under fire by the White House Coronavirus Task Force for not doing enough to slow the spread of the virus across the state.
Texas is seeing an “unsustainable increase in hospitalizations” from the virus and “statewide mitigation must increase,” according to a White House Coronavirus Task Force report dated Nov. 22, The Texas Tribune reported. The report was obtained and published by the Center for Public Integrity.
The report recommended that the state significantly reduce capacity in indoor spaces, including those that are privately owned. And state leaders should further increase the number of people being tested for the virus.
In a statement to Austin-based television station KVUE, Abbott’s office stated,“The State of Texas is responding exactly as suggested by the Task Force. Consistent with the governor’s executive orders, many regions across the state are now required to reduce occupancy limits and close bars to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We are also strategically surging more than 100,000 rapid tests per day, including the testing of school and health care personnel.”
