For the second time in the past three weeks, Denton County has been taken off the Texas COVID-19 vaccine allocation list, with last week’s shipment of more than 25,000 first doses now sandwiched between weeks when the Department of Public Health has only received second doses for its clinics at Texas Motor Speedway.
The first week with no allocation of a first dose from the state health department was the week of March 22, when Denton County Public Health did not receive any vaccines after consistently assigned most of all other registered hub providers of the state. At the time, DCPH spokesperson Jennifer Rainey said the department had enough vaccines on hand to service the clinics this week, adding that the department hoped it would be a one-time copy.
Last week, the county’s typical allotment – 25,740 Pfizer doses – returned when the county began vaccinating all Texas adults following eligibility expansions. While providers are constantly receiving shipments of the second dose that are not on the state’s weekly allotment document, DCPH again went without a shipment of the first dose this week.
During Tuesday’s Denton County Commissioners Court meeting, DCPH director Matt Richardson did not address the lack of an assignment, which he did not address the first time. Rainey, reached ahead of the meeting, only stated that “DCPH had a vaccine on hand this week to use for the first and second doses.”
Rainey has not specified whether DCPH expects a state allocation next week, or whether it will need a reallocation to house a full array of vaccine clinics. Richardson confirmed during Tuesday’s meeting that the department will be sending appointments for the coming week.
“We will be inviting very new appointment times for next week,” said Richardson. “We’ve finished our appointment schedules for this week, so we have a full list at TMS [Tuesday] until Friday. “
According to DCPH’s online vaccination tracker, the department has been invited through spot No. 453,002 on the waiting list, with a total of 485,759 people registered. Those numbers are updated every Monday morning, meaning that about 25,000 more Texas residents had signed up for the county’s list since last week. Richardson stated that between Monday and Tuesday’s meeting, about 2,000 more had been registered.
Not everyone who registers for a vaccine from the county stays on the waiting list, as many got shots from other providers and then removed themselves from the county queue. Nonetheless, Richardson said the line currently includes about 32,000 individuals who have yet to receive their first dose – a number that eclipses the department’s standard weekly allocation of 25,740 Pfizer images
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, numerous providers in Denton County received admissions this week, including several Tom Thumb and Walgreens pharmacies. The largest allocations went to Carrollton Regional Medical Center (1,000 Johnson & Johnson doses) and Driven MD PLLC in Frisco (1,000 Moderna doses).
Richardson’s assessment of the pandemic itself was again positive: active virus cases continued to decline and other important hospital admissions and case statistics also stagnated or improved. He did, however, address the issue of COVID-19 variants.
The state’s most prominent variant, Richardson said, is one first discovered in the United Kingdom, formally referred to as the B.1.1.7 variant. It was first discovered in Denton in early February, although he said current vaccines are effective against it.
“The interesting thing about that variant is that it’s a little less virulent, so a little less lethal, which is good news,” said Richardson. The bad news is it’s a little easier to catch. So one of the things we want to keep doing is underline the need for vaccination. “