HOUSTON – Houston Methodist is holding a clinic this weekend.
Registration for the clinic was open to the public and publicized on a state website, hospital officials said. Appointments for the clinic aimed at vaccinating 4,000 people filled in about a day.
Some clinics run by Houston-area hospitals have been by “invitation only,” and that has led to claims of inequity in how the vaccine is being distributed.
“We get it,” said Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist. “We understand why people are frustrated. Everyone wants to be vaccinated now.”
Boom said those 75 and older who were invited to participate in this weekend’s clinic represent people in every ZIP code in Houston.
Boom said his hospital is working with four federally qualified health clinics to make sure they go deep into some of the most vulnerable and hardest-hit areas of Houston. The goal, Boom said, is to reach more people from the areas where there has been a high percentage of COVID-19 cases and where most residents are uninsured.
“I think we are working very actively and purposefully to address these issues and to make sure that we get vaccines into people’s arms equitably, fairly across our community as quickly as we possibly can,” Boom said. “We were selected by the state as a hub because we’ve gotten vaccines into arms so fast.”
According to Boom, Methodist has administered 44,000 first doses and 13,000 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Boom said he is optimistic that there will be a faster acceleration of the vaccine’s arrival in a couple of weeks.
You can watch Boom’s full interview below.
