Abbott, agency offer protocol on vaccine rollout

Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Department of State Health Services this week outlined their initial protocol for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, which could begin in December.

The criteria to identify who should get the vaccine first comes from an expert panel assembled by the health services department.

Topping the list are health care workers tending to patients suffering the effects of COVID-19 at hospitals and long-term care facilities, emergency medical services workers and home health care workers. The list also prioritizes vulnerable populations at risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 and front-line workers who provide critical services and keep the economy afloat.

The team will consider demographics, poverty, insurance status and geography and seek to provide even access in urban and rural communities and in the most affected ZIP codes, according to a news release from the governor’s office.