Texas will ignore the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on who should get the coronavirus vaccine first, opting to give doses for the elderly before essential workers.
Texas will allow residents 65 or older to get the vaccine for frontline workers such as police, food and agricultural workers, school personnel including teachers, and public transportation workers, among others.
“The focus on people 65 and older or with comorbidities will protect the most vulnerable populations,” said Imelda Garcia, chair of the state’s Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel and deputy commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Division for Laboratory and Infectious Disease Services, told CNBC. “This approach ensures that Texans most at risk from COVID-19 can be protected across different races and ethnicities, regardless of where they work.”
Dr. Jen Kates, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of global health and HIV policy, said the change is not unreasonable, although a substantial deviation, and that she expects other states to make similar adjustments.
“It’s not really about right or wrong, it’s about state values,” she said.
“Texas is clearly on the side of, ‘we’re going to focus on those most at risk of illness and death,'” Kates continued. “Essentially, it creates a different order for the line, and people will have a different access based on where they live, relatively speaking.”
She added: “ Farm workers have little protection and have suffered disproportionately, but in this scheme that Texas uses [they] will not be at the front of the line. It sends out a signal. “
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