Updated at 6:45 p.m. with additional details.
AUSTIN — Amid confusion and frustration over the COVID-19 vaccination roll out in Texas, state officials changed course Thursday and announced they will begin shipping most doses to large providers that can get at least 100,000 shots into people’s arms each week.
The vaccination hubs have yet to be named, but the Department of State Health Services promised a list later this week.
“The idea is to concentrate much of the vaccine at a smaller number of locations so there will be a more centralized opportunity to vaccinate people,” department spokesman Chris Van Deusen said.
The shift away from dozens of scattered vaccinators comes as some lawmakers and residents complained about a process that forced them to hunt for doses by calling clinics, pharmacies and hospitals that were often out of stock.
By funneling COVID-19 vaccines to a few major locations, it should be easier for people to know where to go and how to sign up, Van Deusen said.
Dallas County announced Thursday it plans to launch a “mega” public COVID-19 vaccination site at Fair Park next week, where thousands of people can be inoculated each day.
Shots will be available by appointment only to those who have pre-registered online.
Texans are eligible for the vaccine right now if they are front-line health care workers, people 65 and older or adults with serious health conditions like diabetes, cancer and kidney disease.
Still, doses of the life-saving vaccine are in short supply. The state has received about 1.4 million doses to date.
It will likely be weeks or months before the millions of Texans in the state’s top priority groups are inoculated.
Meanwhile, the first known case of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus was identified in an adult male from Harris County on Thursday. He had no history of travel, suggesting the variant — first identified in Britain — may already be circulating in Texas.
The current scientific evidence shows the variant does not cause more severe disease and vaccines are expected to be effective against it, the department said. But, residents should redouble their efforts to avoid spreading the virus by wearing masks and socially distancing, department commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt said in a statement.
The variant only adds an urgency to vaccinating the most vulnerable Texans.
Behind the roughly 1.9 million health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities in the top priority cohort, there are approximately 8 million older Texans and people with chronic health conditions in the next group, known as 1b.
In a letter on Thursday, nearly 40 House Democrats called on the state to prioritize people who can’t work from home, such as teachers, grocery store employees and food service workers. They also raised concerns that existing vaccination locations are scarce in communities with more Black and Latino residents, who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
“I ask that you take special care to distribute opportunities for vaccination widely and with an eye toward making them equally available to all Texans regardless of racial or ethnic background,” said the letter, which was written by Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, and signed by legislators from across the state.
“The vaccines cannot be rolled out quickly and effectively unless Texans have confidence in the information they receive from DSHS, the governor, and their representatives,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
Confusion erupted late last year when state leaders urged vaccinators to move down the priority list before all front-line health workers had gotten their shot.
Some local health departments, including in Tarrant County and Amarillo, opened up vaccination clinics to the public as a result.
That’s led to frustration at some rural hospitals, at least two dozen of which have not received a shipment of vaccines, said John Henderson, CEO and President of the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals.
“We’d need to see doses at every hospital,” said Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Texas Hospital Association in a statement. “There is a lot of hope and energy behind this vaccine, which is great, but supply doesn’t even come close to matching demand. We have to be methodical and protect the frontlines.”
It’s not entirely clear how the state decided where to send vaccines in the first four weeks of distribution. While the public health department in Tarrant County received over 15,000 doses of the vaccine, the one in Dallas County was allotted a few thousand, according to state allocation lists.
Decisions are made by Hellerstedt, who is guided by a 17-member Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, made up of state officials, lawmakers and public health experts.
Under the new plan, about 75% of the next week’s 200,000 doses will go to the larger vaccination hubs. The rest will go to smaller providers, Van Deusen said.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Greg Abbott said the state has seen success with early mass vaccination sites, which have been able to inoculate thousands of Texans within days.
“With providers directed to focus on communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, these large vaccination hubs will enable us to allocate more vaccines to local health departments and community clinics that often serve diverse populations,” spokeswoman Renae Eze said in a statement.
In a press conference Thursday, Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said he received the vaccine this week and urged others to get it too.
He acknowledged Black and Latino residents may be hesitant due to deep distrust of the country’s healthcare system, but he noted that a Black scientist helped develop the COVID-19 vaccine.
“You know we had representation at the table,” he said. “You have a better opportunity of weathering this storm if you take the vaccine.”
