Harris County makes “leftover” vaccine doses available to school district employees

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – Harris County teachers and school personnel on the waiting list for COVID-19 vaccines are now being called up by Harris County Public Health if there are “ leftover ” doses at the end of the day.

The program was developed by Harris County Public Health to ensure that no vaccine doses are lost during the vaccination of most primary care workers.

“The idea we started last week is that we are going to assign our ‘no show’ appointments to school personnel on our Tier 1A and Tier 1B waiting lists,” said Dr. Maria Rivera of Harris County Public Health.

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Rivera pointed out that Harris County’s massive vaccination sites move locations every week and are generally held in high school stadiums or other school facilities with large parking lots. When people fill out the Harris County Health Department waiting list, they will already be asked if you are employed by a school district and which one. Thus, the county computer system can easily query a list of eligible school district employees in the area where the mega sites are.

“They must be Tier 1A or 1B, and be able to get to our sites quickly,” Rivera said. She adds another perk: Teachers usually live nearby and can quickly log into their computers if they are notified of additional doses that may expire.

Harris County says it works with all 21 school districts in the county, as well as charter schools and private schools in each area. As mega-vaccine locations change from week to week, the county changes the districts they contact, focusing on the districts where the county uses school grounds and where workers can live nearby.

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If you are an educator and want to make sure you are on the call list for no-show vaccine doses, make sure you are on the Harris County vaccine waiting list. Specify which school district you work for from the drop-down menu. As a reminder, the process will still be weighted and randomized, so only employees who are eligible under state guidelines will be contacted.

“This is one way of making sure it doesn’t get lost and always goes to eligible people,” Rivera said.

The video above is from a previous report.

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