Texas rolls out additional vaccination hubs in the Houston area
FacebookTwitterEmail
Texas is now rolling out new vaccination hubs in the Houston area.
Featured image: Covid-19 vaccinations are given during a drive-thru vaccination site implemented by Memorial Hermann in the Yellow Lot at NRG Park.Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Finding the new COVID-19 vaccine has posed a real challenge for some Houstonians. If you re feeling discouraged, take heart. Just after Minute Maid Park and NRG Parkserved as mass vaccinations hubs this past week, the state of Texas is now rolling out additional vaccination hubs for the Houston area.
The Houston Health Department’s mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Minute Maid Park on Saturday was a success in that more than 6,000 area residents got their first dose of the potentially life-saving medicine. But logistical hiccups and a lack of on-site vetting allowed some Houstonians to skip the line and receive a shot without an appointment, and many residents who went through the correct process to make an appointment were sent away without getting a needle in the arm.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced on Thursday that the city health department would once again administer coronavirus vaccines at Minute Maid on Saturday for folks who had already secured an appointment, and said he hoped to open up additional Saturday vaccine appointments if the city got enough additional doses.
Methodist Hospital received more than 5,000 doses, which is part of their 13,650 allotment.
When the vaccines arrive, they go into freezers with a temperature of -80 degrees Celcius. That s about -112 degrees Fahrenheit, which is colder than the surface of Mars.
The doses are stored in the freezer room until they re ready to thaw for the shots.
Officials have only five minutes to move the vials into a freezer to make sure they stay cold enough to be effective. The stakes are high with the vaccine as it s all about timing. We ve got to have a thawing time of 30 minutes. If we thaw it out, it lasts us up to six hours. So we ve got six hours of administration time, explained Binita Patel with Memorial Hermann Pharmacy Services.
Credit: UTHSCT
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler and CHRISTUS Good Shepherd in Longview will receive the vaccine later in the week.
I’m at @UTHealthTyler where the first #COVID19 vaccines in East Texas are about to arrive. @kytxcbs19pic.twitter.com/GNy3yDlqKW David Lippman CBS19 (@david lippman) December 15, 2020
Texas will receive more than 220,000 doses of Pfizer s COVID-19 vaccine in the first week of distribution, state health officials say.
Those doses will be shipping to 109 hospitals across 34 counties, according to the DSHS.
The
vaccine plan from DSHS prioritizes hospital staff who work with patients, home health care workers, and staff and residents at long-term care facilities as the focus for early vaccination.
Methodist Hospital received more than 5,000 doses, which is part of their 13,650 allotment.
When the vaccines arrive, they go into freezers with a temperature of -80 degrees Celcius. That s about -112 degrees Fahrenheit, which is colder than the surface of Mars.
The doses are stored in the freezer room until they re ready to thaw for the shots.
Officials have only five minutes to move the vials into a freezer to make sure they stay cold enough to be effective. The stakes are high with the vaccine as it s all about timing. We ve got to have a thawing time of 30 minutes. If we thaw it out, it lasts us up to six hours. So we ve got six hours of administration time, explained Binita Patel with Memorial Hermann Pharmacy Services.