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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls for changes to ease Texas COVID vaccine scramble
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People that received a COVID-19 vaccine socially distance as they wait the required fifteen minutes to monitor for adverse reactions after getting the shot at the Dallas County mass vaccination site at Fair Park Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)LM Otero, STF / Associated PressShow MoreShow Less
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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick takes his mask off before he presides over the State Senate on the second day of the 87th Texas legislature on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021 at the Texas state Capitol, in Austin, Texas. (Lynda M. González/The Dallas Morning News)Lynda M. González, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS / Staff PhotographerShow MoreShow Less
Dan Patrick asks Texas to revise coronavirus vaccine distribution plan
Alex Samuels
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is asking the state to refine its vaccine rollout program, a move he says will help give Texans a clearer idea as to when they can reasonably expect to receive their injections of the coronavirus vaccine.
His request comes as distribution of the vaccine in Texas has been beset with miscommunication and technical issues that have created confusion for patients and providers, even as Texas outpaces other states in administering the vaccine.
Texans in phases 1A and 1B of the vaccine rollout which includes front-line health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, Texans who are 65 years and older and those who are at least 16 with certain chronic medical conditions are already eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Then he panicked.
According to the system, his Tarrytown pharmacy hadnât vaccinated anyone. The numbers on his screen indicated all 500 doses were still sitting on his shelf.
âI freaked out thinking, âOh my gosh, theyâre not going to give me any [more] doses because they think Iâm not giving anything,ââ Ching said.
As the state began the massive undertaking of distributing the coronavirus vaccine, its early rollout was beset by data problems that left state officials with immunization and dose information that was outdated, incomplete and sometimes misleading.
Health care providers feared those inaccurate numbers, collected by the stateâs immunization registry, ImmTrac2, and another system were being used by the state to decide who would get the weekly allotment of vaccine â and by others to decide who would get blamed for moving too slowly as a desperate public clamored for shots.
<figcaption> Tarrytown Pharmacy in Austin quickly exhausted its supply of 500 coronavirus vaccine doses in late December, then was bombarded by phone calls from people looking to get vaccinated. <cite>Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune</cite>
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