Here’s what Tarrant County expects as Biden promises big increase in vaccines
The Biden administration’s strategy for coronavirus vaccine distribution across the country could mean a boost in the number of shots available for Tarrant County residents.
“We’re kind of excited that there is now a concerted effort,” said Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja.
In Tarrant County officials are in the early stages of planning how they’ll work with the White House’s new leaders to get shots in arms.
The county and more than two dozen health department directors and doctors for large cities recently met virtually with administration’s incoming vaccine coordinator, Bechara Choucair, said Taneja said. The information was limited, but the preview showed the administration will have a national strategy, Taneja said.
President Joe Biden was quick to lay out his plan for COVID-19 response and set a goal of the country administering 100 million shots in his first 100 days of office. On Monday, he increased the target to 150 million doses.
That translates to roughly 29,000 vaccinations a day on the local level, said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. Currently Tarrant County Public Health and its partners in Arlington and at Texas Health Resources can do about 7,000 shots per day.
“We need to be looking at sites, we need to be looking at setting up teams and training those teams so that if we were to get 29,000 vaccines a day, we could put them in somebody’s arm,” Whitley said.
Biden’s plan for COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Texas continues to focus on vaccinating health care workers, long-term care facility residents, people 65 and older and those with medical conditions.
Biden’s strategy pledges additional support and funding for state and local governments in their vaccination efforts, as well as an “improved line of sight into supply.”
Having a predictable amount of supply coming in allows vaccine providers to better plan for staffing, distribution and appointments, said Emanuel George, who works in the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s College of Pharmacy.
“In this environment, it’s very integral to have that (state-federal) partnership back and forth, but then also it’s very important to have a coordinated plan among the two of ‘what does that relationship look like?’ and then also expectations of who’s required to do what,” George said.
On a Thursday call with reporters, Imelda Garcia, chairperson of the state’s Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, said the state has had introductory meetings with the White House.
“They definitely want to learn what we are doing here in Texas,” Garcia said. “They are supportive of the work that we’re doing and want to partner with us in order to help us get vaccines in Texans across the state. So, we’re going to continue to have that strong communication and collaboration.”
As the administration gets more policy and rollout details, it will share the information with the state, said Garcia, who is also the Texas Department of State Health Services’ associate commissioner for laboratory and infectious disease services.
Biden has proposed federal vaccination sites across the country in places like stadiums and conference centers, promising 100 centers by the end of February.
Texas has taken a “hub” approach, allocating more doses to fewer sites that are able to administer a larger volume of vaccines. Some smaller providers also continue to receive doses. The mass sites give people a set place they know will have doses and create a degree of supply predictability for providers, Garcia said.
It is unclear whether the federal sites will benefit Texas, said David Lakey, the vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer for the University of Texas System. He also serves on the state’s Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel.
“If they bring in their own supply, that could be helpful because it brings in additional vaccine,” Lakey said. “If we have to redirect to that federal program or lose some of that allocation because of that federal program, it may not be helpful.”
The challenge in Texas isn’t finding health care workers to provide the vaccine, it’s the number of doses the state is receiving, he said. Texas on Saturday reported that roughly 3.2 million doses had been shipped to the state and 2.3 million had been administered. About 449,000 people have been fully vaccinated, according to the state numbers.
Biden has promised a 16% increase in vaccine deliveries to states over the next few weeks, according to the Associated Press. But questions still surround how they’re going to achieve the goal and how quickly, Lakey said.
Biden is ending a policy of holding back “significant levels” of doses for second shots to help boost supply.
A greater supply of vaccine and increased visibility for distribution planning are the state’s key needs from the federal government, Lakey said.
“I think we can go through vaccine quickly, but until our supply goes up significantly, we’re not going to meet anywhere near the demand, and it’s going to take us months to go through this 1B population,” Lakey said.
The 1B population includes people 65 and older and those with medical conditions.
He predicted that it could take until May or June before the 1B group is vaccinated. That timeline could accelerate as more vaccines are authorized for use, he said.
The Texas Department of State Health Services is expecting an increase in the number of vaccine doses from the federal government in the coming week, including more than 520,400 for people’s first shots. Those doses are going to the state’s hubs, as well as federally qualified health centers, community health centers and rural health clinics, according to the department.
The department attributed the uptick in doses to a 30% increase in the number of Moderna vaccines the federal government is allotting to the state and a one-time return of nearly 126,800 Pfizer vaccines that had been set aside for a federal program aimed at vaccinating nursing home residents. The program overestimated the number of vaccines needed, the department said in a Friday news release announcing the coming allotment to the state.
The surplus in vaccines originally earmarked for the program will be given to “providers in counties where allocations have been significantly less than their share of the population, particularly in the suburban Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas,” the department said.
What’s ahead for Tarrant County providers?
The Arlington Community Health Center received its first 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine the week of Jan. 24. The center, which receives federal funding, serves a number of people with barriers to health care access.
The bulk of the staff at the Arlington center and two other sites that make up the North Texas Area Community Health Centers have already been vaccinated, which means most of the doses will go to the center’s patients.
“We have patients that are living in high risk ZIP codes where we saw a lot of these community members being hit really hard with COVID,” said Patricia Rodriguez, interim chief medical officer for the health centers. “It is really critical for us to be able to vaccinate our patient population, and of course, the community-at-large, because otherwise they have difficulty accessing care.”
It’s a “huge endeavor” to try and get the entire country vaccinated against the coronavirus, Rodriguez said.
“Although there have been … things that could be done a little bit differently or could have been done better, I truly believe that the CDC has done an amazing job going at rapid, lightning speed to keep up with how quickly this vaccine was authorized under emergency use,” she said.
Rodriguez said sufficient manpower and space for vaccine distribution are the primary needs from the state and federal government. Gerrie Whitaker, the area community health centers’ CEO, said the government could step in to help with expenses that wouldn’t normally be incurred, pointing to biohazard costs as an example.
The primary need for Texas hospitals? More vaccine doses.
“We’ve been slow to yell too loudly about it, just because we understand that we’re in the middle of a transition, and we need them to get their feet settled and figure out how they’re going to move vaccine,” said Carrie Kroll, vice president of advocacy, quality and public health at the Texas Hospital Association.
When those doses come, Kroll is confident the state has the infrastructure in place to get to people.
“We’ve gone entire weeks without fully giving vaccine to all hospitals, all health care departments, all pharmacies, all physician offices,” Kroll said. “There’s a network of people ready to vaccinate that just don’t have vaccine.”
Reporter Brian Lopez contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 12:40 PM.
