HOUSTON – The Texas Department of State Health Services shared an update on COVID-19 vaccine allocation and distribution.
Imelda Garcia, associate commissioner for Laboratory and Infectious Disease Services and chair of the Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, gave remarks at the event, focusing on the new group 1C to begin receiving the vaccine on Monday in Texas.
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Garcia said the group designation “does the most” to protect Texans from COVID-19 because the next age group, combined with the 1A and 1B group comprise 93 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Texas. She added that along with the 1A and 1B groups, the 1C group bears a significant risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death, adding that the data is “very clear” on this point.
“Opening up vaccination to this group next will let us continue to reduce the number of deaths we’re seeing across the state and help relieve the strain on our hospitals and the rest of the health care system,” Garcia said. “This is a good time to make this transition because more than half of the people 65 and up -- about 53 percent -- have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine --and we’re approaching nearly one-third fully vaccinated.”
KPRC 2 will have a video of the remarks as soon as they can be processed in the video at the top of this article.