CORONAVIRUS
FEMA-backed vaccine ‘supersite’ in the works for Houston.
Texas is working with the federal government to open vaccination “supersites” that could administer upward of 5,000 COVID-19 vaccines per day, Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday.
Houston and Dallas will likely host the initial two sites, Abbott said, with “possible expansion to other locations.” They would be open every day for eight weeks, offering as many as 672,000 shots between them.
The sites would be the largest to administer COVID-19 vaccines in Texas, which has lost more than 35,000 residents to the coronavirus. They come at the beginning of an increased federal presence in the state’s vaccine rollout, as President Joe Biden has promised to scale up vaccine distribution as quickly as possible.
In recent weeks, Texas officials have employed a similar strategy at the state level, designating about 80 vaccination “hubs” statewide that receive most of the weekly vaccine allotment. The largest hubs clock in just above 10,000 doses a week, though allocations vary by site.
Lauren Lefebvre, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said officials are working with Texas on the specifics for the supersites, which weren’t solidified yet Monday. The agency is partnering with state governments across the nation to pilot up to 100 community vaccination centers primarily staffed by federal employees.
It was not immediately clear whether the supersites would for sure be in Houston and Dallas or when they would open to the public. The governor and the Department of State Health Services did not respond to requests for comment.
“The goal of establishing these joint federal pilot centers is to continue to expand the rate of vaccinations in an efficient, effective and equitable manner, with an explicit focus on making sure that communities with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection are not left behind,” Lefebvre said.
If the program is successful, FEMA could open additional sites as vaccines become more widely available, she said.
This week, Houston Methodist Hospital received the largest allocation for a vaccine hub, with 12,675 doses — around 1,800 shots a day.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the “supersite” announcement was “good news” that would allow county officials to begin chipping away at a vaccination waitlist including roughly 300,000 residents — far exceeding available doses.
“The sooner we increase vaccine supply, the faster we can reach herd immunity,” she tweeted. “We’re ready to support state and Biden administration efforts to distribute more vaccines.”
FEMA has already announced two supersites in California, which are set to open in Los Angeles and Oakland on Feb. 16.
The sites piggyback on broader federal efforts to expand vaccine access. The Biden administration announced over the weekend that it plans to utilize NFL stadiums as vaccination centers. And this week, the federal government will begin to distribute a small number of vaccine doses directly to national pharmacy chains, including CVS and Walgreens.
As of Sunday, Texas had administered about 3.2 million vaccine doses to about 2.5 million people, 800,000 of whom have received two shots and are fully vaccinated.
Texas is currently inoculating members of priority groups 1A — health care workers and nursing home residents — and 1B, including anyone 65 and older and most people with preexisting conditions. The members of those groups account for more than 9 million Texans — more than double the number of vaccine doses that have been shipped to the state since December.
Lefebvre could not clarify whether the supersites would also follow the state’s eligibility guidelines, which allow all Texans to get the vaccine at any site, or whether someone must be a resident of Houston or Dallas to make an appointment.