Help Desk answers vaccine questions
Since the first COVID-19 vaccine was given to a New York nurse on Dec. 14, the questions on how, when and where to find it haven’t stopped.
State and local governments, as well as hospitals and primary care physicians, are working to vaccinate their eligible patients while institutions show a slight decrease in hospitalizations, following a holiday spike.
The Houston Chronicle’s COVID-19 Help Desk is here to answer your questions. Every week, a Chronicle reporter answers readers’ questions about how the virus works, what to expect with the vaccine and other concerns on Houstonians’ minds.
Is there a main vaccination registry in Houston?
Unfortunately, there is no main waitlist to get vaccinated in Texas.
Harris County launched a waitlist this week for the county’s public health clinics. However, on the first day more than 49,000 people reserved a spot in
line. Once you’re on the county waitlist, you will be alerted when it’s your turn via email with a link to claim your appointment. You will have 48 hours to do this.
The same goes for registering for a vaccine on the Houston Health Department’s online portal or senior waitlist, temporarily closed because of overwhelming demand.
All appointments are filled until further notice, while the city prioritizes the newest shipment
(5,300 doses) for the area’s most vulnerable people already on the Harris County Area Agency on Aging waitlist, people who have already booked appointments and health care providers in vulnerable communities.
When reopened, these waitlists will serve any city resident that meets Phase 1A or 1B criteria: frontline health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, people who are 65 and older and those with pre-existing conditions that put them at a high risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Residents who fall under Phase 1A or 1B can check for appointment opportunities through email, text message, voice call or a mobile app push notification by visiting houston emergency.org/alerts/.
Public health agencies have administered about 14 percent of the shots given out in Harris County, according to Chronicle data.
The state has a database and map of vaccine providers, but there is no way to register for an appointment on that site. The best way to get an appointment is to keep calling health care providers and pharmacies directly or signing up on a government portal.
In an interview with the Chronicle last week, Dr. David Lakey, a member of the Texas COVID-19 Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, said Texas currently receives about 330,000 doses per week. Given that the 1B phase group is made up of more than 9 million people, Lakey expects it will take five to six months — until May or June — to fully vaccinate the group before other populations are prioritized.
“I would encourage people just to continue to follow this — continue to look at the Houston Health Department website and continue to work with their private providers,” Lakey said. “In all honesty, it’s going to take a while to get through this demand.”
Do you need to double-mask to protect from coronavirus variants?
Scientifically speaking, no. But the mask type and thickness matters, said Dr. Linda Yancey, infectious disease specialist for Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital.
Double-masking to ward off the more transmissible coronavirus variants is being driven more by social media than science, Yancey explained. But there is no new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on this topic.
“It all goes back to not all masks are created equal,” she said. “Cloth masks are variable in thickness and layers. You’re certainly going to want three layers of cloth in the mask with good padding for better protection.”
Mask fit is important, Yancey said.
A single-ply cloth mask can be strengthened by layering it over a surgical one, Yancey said, but there’s no official recommendation. Anyone with a loose bandanna around their head or neck needs to switch to an actual mask, she added. Neck gaiters are most effective when tucked into the top of the shirt.
A November study examined the effectiveness of 11 face coverings for material filtration, inward protection and outward protection efficiencies. Masks made with vacuum-cleaner bags performed best, hitting up to 96 percent effectiveness on all three tested metrics. Thin acrylic masks and plastic face shields performed the worst, according to the study, which was conducted by civil and environmental engineers at Virginia Tech University and has not yet been peerreviewed.
Will you have to continue taking precautions after vaccination?
With the growing number of vaccinated Texans (1.61 million have received their first dose), many wonder what they can do now that they won’t get sick from the virus.
First up? Travel.
It can take weeks or a month for the body to build immunity after vaccination, according to the CDC, which means face masks and physical distancing are still necessary in public indoor and outdoor spaces.
Also, several U.S. travel recommendations and restrictions took effect earlier this month: International travelers coming into the U.S. will need a negative test result no more than three days before a planned fight, according to the CDC. Cruiseship travel should be avoided because of the ease of virus spread, the CDC reported earlier this month. Countries are categorized by COVID risk level on the CDC website, but it’s important to note that a quarter of confirmed cases (25 million) are in the U.S. alone.
Going to a bar? Still the highest-risk activity, according to the Texas Medical Association, which has ranked activities from safest to most dangerous during the pandemic.
Large church services (500 or more people), sports stadiums, large music concerts, movie theaters, amusement parks and working out in a gym are considered high risk — even if you are vaccinated.
However, having dinner at someone’s house, attending a backyard barbecue, going to the beach or shopping at the mall are only a moderate risk, the association reported. Going to a library, museum, working in an office or visiting an elderly relative or friend in their home are less dangerous activities as well.
Continue to wear a mask, though, Lakey told the Chronicle. More data is needed before vaccinated people can fully let their guards down.
“Individuals that are immunized and people that have had natural infection continue to need to be careful. We still need to wear masks,” Lakey said last week. “We still need to do the things that have protected us this far: hand hygiene and physical distancing.”
Have a question for the Chronicle’s COVID-19 Help Desk? Ask it at houston chronicle.com/projects/ 2021/health-desk/.