City’s vaccine appointments fill up fast

Houston’s Health Department launched an online portal Monday for residents to apply for an appointment at its COVID-19 vaccine clinic but quickly ran out of available slots for the remainder of the month.

“The response to Houston’s first COVID-19 vaccine clinic was massive, quickly filling the appointment slots for the department’s current vaccine allocation,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a City Hall news conference where he was about to get his own shot in the arm.

“The vaccine clinic appointments are booked for the rest of this month, and the department is not taking additional appointments at this time.”

Turner said the city is working to set up additional sites and create additional capacity, although it is unclear when new appointments will be available. Turner said the city hopes to open a “mega site” on Saturday.

The portal, available at houstonemergency.org/ covid-19-vaccines, added another way for qualifying residents to book an appointment. A hotline also is available at 832393-4220.

The city clinic vaccinated nearly 2,000 residents with the Moderna vaccine in two days. It is accepting residents from the first two phases of the state’s distribution plan, which include front-line emergency workers, people 65 and older, and those over 16 with certain high-risk health conditions.

Those conditions include cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart conditions, solid organ transplantation, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Turner said he spent a lot of time at the clinic over the weekend and was concerned about the lack of people of color there. The mayor said he and other city leaders were getting their vaccines in public in a bid to ease residents’ concerns about the process.

“The point is, for people of color in this diverse community, this is not the Tuskegee project,” Turner said, referring to an unethical 40-year study in which several hundred Black men infected with syphilis were misled by government researchers and left without treatment for the disease.

“We recognize the hesitations people have, the fear people have, butmany people are coming to get the vaccine. This is not the time for people of color to stay away from the vaccine.”

Police ChiefArtAcevedo, Fire Chief Sam Peña and Councilmembers Letitia Plummer and Michael Kubosh were among those who also received the vaccine Monday at City Hall.

Demand for the vaccine overwhelmed the city’s call center when the clinic opened Saturday, forcing officials to use on-site registration instead.

Harris County Public Health took down its portal Friday evening, after the department mistakenly let residents who did not qualify sign up. The agency said it would conduct vetting on site to ensure the vaccine only goes to people allowed to receive it.

Martha Marquez, a spokeswoman for the department, said it is waiting for more shipments of the vaccine before it begins accepting new applications.

Hospitals and other providers in the Houston area also have started vaccinating seniors and some with high-risk conditions. The state maintains a database of vaccine providers on its website, and recommends residents call their providers for more information about availability.