HOUSTON (Reuters) – Texas will allocate about half of its latest COVID-19 vaccine stocks to just 28 healthcare facilities, officials said Sunday, aiming to accelerate distribution amid mounting infections and hospitalizations.
Distribution efforts in the second most populous state of the US are falling short, with people waiting for hours, online registration sites unable to keep up, or vaccine locations abruptly changing due to overwhelming demand.
The state’s positivity rate, or percentage of positive cases, was 19.2% Saturday, up nearly 6 percentage points over the past four weeks. The number of new infections rose by nearly 19,000 and more than 13,000 people were hospitalized, up from 4,000 in the past four weeks.
Concentrating supplies will simplify filings and provide more photos for eligible residents, the state said in a press release. Initial inclusion allocations are based on estimates of the number of people each site could serve. Officials from the Department of State Health Services were not available to comment.
Of the 310,000 doses expected in Texas this week, about 159,000 will be delivered to just 28 locations. Smaller sites will distribute 38,300 doses and receive 121,875 nursing homes and long-term care facilities, the state said.
Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Peter Cooney