Vaccine registry
Three City Council members trying to force debate on establishing one-stop portal for scheduling shots.
As Texas prepares to make all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting Monday, a trio of San Antonio City Council members is trying to force a debate on establishing a one-stop portal for scheduling vaccinations.
The state’s decision to make all adults eligible will generate a new wave of demand. Since vaccines first became available in December, residents have grown frustrated at the difficulty of making appointments through online portals operated by hospitals, clinics and pharmacy chains. Trying by phone can require hours of redialing.
San Antonio is the only major Texas city without a one-stop vaccine registry. Austin, Houston
and Dallas each have systems that allow people to sign up and be notified when an appointment becomes available.
Without a registry, some San Antonio council members fear it will become even more difficult to obtain appointments as the eligibility pool expands.
“I think we can do this pretty quickly,” District 9 Councilman John Courage said. “I think it would alleviate a lot of the frustration and the fear that I believe is still very prevalent throughout the city.”
Courage and two other council members — Ana Sandoval and Rebecca Viagran — called for a special meeting Thursday to settle the issue. The council will take up the matter by the end of next week, the mayor’s office said.
Council offices have been inundated with calls from constituents complaining about problems securing appointments.
“We do our best with them,” said Sandoval, who chairs the council’s community health and equity committee. “But saying ‘OK, just be patient’ when instead we can have a registry … I think we need to explore that option.”
Major vaccine providers have requested help from the city in identifying vulnerable residents, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, so they can give them doses, Sandoval said.
More than 434,000 Bexar County residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. About 243,000 residents are fully vaccinated — about 16 percent of Bexar residents over the age of 16.
For months, the city’s top health officials have resisted the idea of a citywide registry. They say it would do little to ease people’s anxiety about securing an appointment, given the limited supply of vaccine.
City Council shot down the idea of a registry in February. At the time, Mayor Ron Nirenberg echoed health officials’ concerns. But on Thursday, he said he was open to revisiting the matter.
“I welcome another look at how we can create an effective central registry in Bexar County,” Nirenberg said in a statement. “The challenge presented by a decentralized distribution process still remains.”
Skepticism persists among some health leaders.
“A waiting list would not solve the problem, which is that San Antonio is not receiving enough vaccine to meet the demand,” said University Health System spokeswoman Elizabeth Allen. “Being number 500,000 on the waiting list will do nothing to ease someone’s anxiety. So they continue to find more waiting lists to join.”
University Health, Bexar County’s public hospital system, did create an online registry this week for residents age 80 and up. In all, UH has administered more than 190,000 doses of vaccine.
Michael Charlton, an assistant vice president of UT Health San Antonio, another vaccine provider, said establishing a citywide registry “requires significant administration, consistent infrastructure and data warehousing investment.”
The city’s vaccination hubs “are working together cohesively to meet demand whenever made possible by limited vaccine supply,” Charlton said.
Baptist Health System, which has five hospitals across the city, created a waitlist to vaccinate its 5,500 employees and their eligible family members, CEO Matt Stone said.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have a registry,” he said.
The Texas Department of State Health Services is launching an online vaccine scheduler next week to help Texans register for appointments through participating public health agencies.
Metropolitan Health District officials and some council members have expressed doubt that a registry could encompass all of the city’s vaccine providers as more groceries, pharmacies and medical practices receive doses. Austin’s registry, for example, covers only the four vaccination sites controlled by that city’s health department.
“The problem is we haven’t really had an opportunity to fully explore what it might look like,” Sandoval said.