Tarrant worries it won’t be able to handle vaccine distribution if supplies increase
Tarrant County officials thought they had a deal that the UNT Health Science Center would take over COVID-19 vaccination efforts. On Tuesday, they found out otherwise, and they worry the county will not be able to distribute a potential wave of vaccines.
The county agreed to work with UNT Health Science Center at its Jan. 19 meeting, with the idea to expand vaccination sites through drive-thrus, schools and churches. But there were no specifics about the plan during the public meeting.
On Tuesday, county commissioners learned that two doctors and a high-ranking official from UNT will allocate a total of about 32 hours a week to consult the county as it looks to vaccinate more people while doing it more equitably. As of Tuesday, about 5% of African-Americans and about 6% of Hispanic or Latino people had received at least one dose of the vaccine while 47% of white people have received it at least once.
The commissioners ultimately unanimously agreed to spend $200,000 on the contract, which runs through Sept. 30. Commissioner Roy Brooks said the agreement is a good step forward as the county continues to look for an entity that can take control of its vaccination effort.
“What we were initially after was a partnership with an organization that could take over a whole vaccination effort and free us up from that responsibility,” Brooks said.
The partnership is already working on a drive-thru vaccination site, which is expected to be unveiled within the next two weeks.
Asked about the county’s expectations that the Health Science Center would take over the vaccination efforts, a spokesperson said in a statement: “HSC looks forward to continuing to work closely with county leaders to expand access to the vaccine to all people across Tarrant County.”
County officials were looking to add manpower and an organization to take over because the public health staff has been stretched thin, County Judge Glen Whitley said.
Whitley said during the Jan. 19 public meeting that he wanted the UNT Health Science Center to set up and staff sites based on the its plan. Michael Williams, the UNT Health Science Center president, said during the meeting that the HSC would find and train people to administer doses.
Whitley said the county still needs to seek an organization that will locate potential sites and provide the manpower to vaccinate more people as he expects the county to receive more vaccinations under the Biden administration. He would still like for UNT Health Science Center to take charge of the plan and hopes to meet with HSC officials soon.
“We’re going to figure out what happened,” Whitley said Wednesday in a phone interview.
The increase from the Biden administration could mean roughly 29,000 vaccinations a day, up from the 7,000 Tarrant County Public Health and its partners in Arlington and at Texas Health Resources administer each day.
As of now, he doesn’t think the county is prepared if a “tsunami” of doses arrives.
“We’ve got to be ready at a moment’s notice to take the double or the triple of the number of vaccines we’re getting,” he said.
County administrator G.K. Maenius told commissioners that this contract was put in good faith to maintain the relationship with UNT, which has provided contact tracing services to the county, and also shows that the county is doing more in the vaccination effort.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 12:32 PM.
