COVID-19 vaccine expected in Tarrant County on Tuesday. Here’s the distribution plan
COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in Tarrant County on Tuesday, a day after they started getting to hospitals in Texas.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, 19,500 does of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived to four Texas Hospitals on Monday, including Methodist Dallas Medical Center. On Tuesday, 75,075 does will be delivered to 19 sites across the state, including medical facilities in Fort Worth, Dallas and Tyler.
Shipments of the vaccine to nearly 90 other sites are expected later in the week.
“Seeing the first doses of vaccine arrive in Texas is an important milestone signaling that a return to our way of life is within sight,” DSHS Commissioner John Hellerstedt said in a statement. “We cannot stop short of the finish line. This hope should lift our spirits and strengthen our resolve to do what must be done to end the pandemic.”
Texas Health Resources will receive a shipment on Tuesday, a DSHS spokesperson said. Texas Health Resources has more than 20 hospitals across North Texas.
Texas is expected to receive more than 1.4 million doses for December. More than 224,000 have been designated for 110 providers across the state for the first week of distribution, according to DSHS.
The initial vaccine doses will be given to health care and hospital employees, according to Stephen Love, the president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.
During the first week, the department is focusing on facilities that said they would vaccinate at least least 975 front-line health care workers, as that is the minimum vaccine order, according to DSHS. The Moderna vaccine, assuming it is authorized by the FDA as anticipated, can be ordered in batches of 100 doses. DSHS said this will help to make the vaccine more accessible across the state.
John Peter Smith Hospital, the only public hospital in Tarrant County, has requested 10,000 doses for health care workers. Vaccination is voluntary for JPS employees will be offered immediately once the vaccine arrives, JPS said.
A spokesperson for Baylor Scott & White said its Grapevine Medical Center expects to receive the vaccine on Wednesday and begin administering it on Thursday. The Fort Worth Medical Center is tentatively scheduled to get the vaccine Thursday or Friday.
Spokespersons for Cook Children’s and Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital did not immediately return requests for comment.
The state’s phased distribution plan prioritizes front-line health care workers and nursing home workers and residents of long-term nursing homes.
In addition to Dallas Medical Center, Wellness 360 (UTHealth San Antonio), UTHealth Austin Dell Medical School and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston received their shipments of the vaccine Monday.
“Today’s shipment to four providers was a purely logistical decision made by the federal government,” Loveday said in an email.
Methodist Dallas Medical Center received 5,850 doses of the vaccine around 8 a.m. Monday morning, a spokesperson for the Methodist Health System said in an email.
Video provided by the system shows two boxes being unloaded from a UPS truck and taken to freezers for storage.
“Methodist Health System has been preparing for weeks to be in a position to receive and administer this vaccine as soon as possible,” Chief Pharmacy Officer Jon Albrecht said in a statement.
Texas is participating in a federal vaccination program for long-term care staff and residents that begins Dec. 28.
Allotments expected in Tarrant County this week are:
- Medical City Arlington: 975
- Texas Health Huguley Hospital — Fort Worth South: 975
- Cook Children’s Medical Center: 4,875
- Baylor Scott And White All Saints Medical Center — Fort Worth: 975
- Texas Health Resources (Texas Health Medical Support): 5,850
- John Peter Smith Hospital: 1,950
- Cook Children’s Occupational Health Services: 1,950
- Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Grapevine: 975
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 5:26 PM.
