Karen Gleason
Doses of the new COVID vaccinations are arriving in Del Rio.
Front line healthcare workers are expected to be the first in line for vaccinations, according to the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, members of the county/city COVID-19 task force said Monday.
County Emergency Management Coordinator Rowland Garza said he and the Val Verde County/City of Del Rio Local Health Authority Dr. J. Gutierrez and Assistant Local Health Authority Dr. Laura Palau have been tracking the status of the vaccine availability and guidelines for its distribution across the country and Texas.
“For the last two months, the federal government has been working on the vaccine approvals, and the vaccines themselves will be distributed through the states. We’ve been getting reports and getting updates, and it seems like every other week, things were changing,” Garza said in a telephone interview.
“Quantity was the first question we had, and then accessibility and distribution,” he added.
Palau said there are several local providers who have enrolled to get the COVID vaccine.
“One of them is Val Verde Regional Medical Center. So these providers are going to follow up with what the state has authorized as ‘Phase One,’ which is front line healthcare workers and staff and residents at long-term care facilities, nursing homes,” Palau said.
The providers who have enrolled to get the vaccine will be the ones who will distribute it, she added.
Among the other providers who have enrolled are Walgreens, the H-E-B Pharmacy, CVS and the nursing homes.
“We know that the hospital will begin vaccinating front line medical workers and staff, and we’ll go from there, following the state’s guidelines,” Palau said.
She said Del Rio will first receive doses of the Moderna vaccine, and it is expected to arrive in Del Rio sometime this week.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said Monday he was told Del Rio is slated to receive 500 doses of the vaccine, and Palau said although she wasn’t sure of the exact number of doses, added that every person receiving the vaccine must get two doses for it to be most effective.
Garza said information about the vaccines and the way they will be distributed is available on the web site of the Texas Department of State Health Services, www.dshs.texas.gov.
“They’re showing the number of front line healthcare workers and vulnerable populations to be 3,650,” Garza said.
He added larger numbers of the vaccine will likely go to areas where there has been a high number of COVID-related hospitalizations, like the Corpus Christi area, Houston, Lubbock, Amarillo and El Paso.
