Electronics help speed Tarrant County’s vaccine distribution. Not all get the message
Diana Cervantes was thankful to be with her 86-year-old mother on Thursday when she got her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Everything was really organized, and moved quickly, but everything was electronic-based,” said Cervantes, who is the director of the UNT Health Science Center’s epidemiology program. “Say she had to go alone and scan a QR code and get a code from her email herself, there’s no way she would be able to do that.”
Firefighters were at the vaccine center in Arlington to help those in line who weren’t electronically savvy. For people who didn’t have access to their email or a smartphone, sometimes they had to write people’s information on paper.
In Fort Worth, Commissioner Roy Brooks worries his older constituents will have trouble finding information about the vaccine. In a section of his precinct south of downtown, more than 2,000 households don’t have internet access, according to the U.S. Census.
The internet and electronic devices have helped speed and ease the distribution of the shot in Tarrant County, but the approach leaves some in an information gap. Meanwhile, the county must figure out how to get information about the vaccine to 2.1 million people who don’t all receive information through the same means.
Most of the county’s messaging about how to get the vaccine has been through social media and either written about or broadcasted through traditional media like newspapers and TV stations. The only way to sign up for the vaccine is through an online form or a phone call with heavy wait times. One PR expert said the county should use every means possible to get word out, but it doesn’t appear officials are.
Cervantes said the COVID-19 vaccine roll out has been different from others because it’s brand new. With the flu vaccine, the general public already knows how and where to get it because it’s been available for years. And, people don’t have to socially distance when getting that shot.
Brooks said the county needs to come up with a better distribution plan.
“There needs to be a mechanism for people who are not electronically enabled, people who don’t do the internet, people whose neighborhoods are not connected, to be able to get registered in a way that does not include going to the website,” Brooks said Jan. 5 during the county commissioners meeting.
After the meeting, he told the Star-Telegram that the Tarrant County COVID-19 hotline (817-248-6299) is a “tremendous improvement” but hold times need to be decreased substantially. Residents can call the number to see if they qualify for the vaccine and to get registered.
“We need to add resources to expand the bandwidth of the website, to expand the lines available to those who are calling in and the persons who are answering those phones,” Brooks said. “We need to eliminate barriers and in order to do that, we need to add resources and in order add resources we need a plan.”
Brooks, who has been a staunch advocate for people in his district getting the vaccine, acknowledged that people without internet access might not even know the vaccine is available to them. The vaccination process is a work in progress that he believes will improve as plans are formed and executed.
Brian Murnahan, spokesperson for the Tarrant County Public Health Department, said someone from the county has reached out to pastors and medical professionals to spread the message to their congregation and patients.
Murnahan acknowledged there are still holes in the messaging and said the county has made an effort to specifically reach out to the Black and Hispanic communities. He also noted that the county alone has vaccinated more than of 1,300 people a day since it started giving out the shots.
Brooks wants to see that number expand to 100,000 a day.
So what’s the best way to reach millions of people? Mike Zizzo, the principal of Blue Verve Public Relations, has spent his career figuring out how to get his clients’ messages out to the largest amount of people possible.
In this case, he said it’s important that the county use the internet, media and creativity to get the job done.
“I think they should use every source available to them,” he said. “That could mean focusing on businesses where people often go like grocery stores and pharmacies.”
One of his suggestions would be to distribute fliers to these businesses, who can then hand them out to customers, or attach signage to their entry doors and around the pharmacy. The fliers should give information about who is eligible for the vaccine now, how to register for it and where to go.
“It depends on their budget, but if you look at different areas of the county where people are less likely to have internet or who are lower income, getting a flier into their mailbox with information is a great way to get it out there,” Zizzo said.
The key to distributing the information is figuring out where individual residents are most likely to see it. The county could send mailers to some areas, but pay for Facebook ads in others or send mass text messages with a link to the county’s website, Zizzo suggested.
But, the county’s website itself could be a barrier for some, considering the lengthy and confusing URL: https://www.tarrantcounty.com/en/public-health/disease-control---prevention/COVID-19/COVID-19-Vaccine.html
“If you’re trying to share that URL with my mom, who is 90, there’s no way,” he said.
The Tarrant health department isn’t the only vaccine provider in the county. At John Peter Smith Hospital, patient advocates are working to make sure those who don’t have internet know what’s available to them.
“Many JPS care providers are reaching out directly to their high-risk patients who meet the criteria to inform them and identify any personal obstacles to getting the vaccine,” spokeswoman Diana Brodeur said on Wednesday.
The JPS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team is also working to reach as many people as possible with information, she said. Vaccine appointments have also opened in the Diamond Hill and Polytechnic neighborhoods, where residents can get their shots nearby.
Soon, appointments in Stop Six, Arlington and Euless will open.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
