Vaccine-seekers can cross state line — in one direction

TEXARKANA — Whether locals can cross the state line to get a coronavirus vaccination depends on which direction they are going.

Texas has no residency requirements for those who receive a vaccination in the state, so Arkansas residents are free to seek their shots on the Texas side.

Arkansas officials, however, have asked providers in the state to vaccinate only those who live or work there.

“We have encouraged our vaccinators to vaccinate Arkansas residents or those living outside the state but working in Arkansas. We do encourage pharmacies to follow these guidelines and they can check this when a patient schedules an appointment or joins a waitlist,” a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Health said via email.

It was unclear Wednesday whether the two Texarkana, Arkansas, pharmacies now providing vaccinations — College Hill Drug and Walmart — are checking patients’ residency.

A recorded message refers people who call College Hill Drug to its website for more information about coronavirus vaccination. The site does not answer whether residency will be checked before vaccinations are administered. But an online form used to join the pharmacy’s vaccination waiting list requires checking which Arkansas county one lives in.

Walmart pharmacy staff could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The Texarkana, Texas, and Bowie County, Texas, governments would not impose a residency requirement for the vaccine even if they could, a spokesperson for the local emergency Joint Operations Center said. In December, CHRISTUS St. Michael Health

System in Texarkana, Texas, administered the vaccine to first responders who work in Texarkana, Arkansas.

Similar but different categories of people currently qualify for vaccination in Arkansas than in Texas. Both states are in what each calls Phase 1B of their vaccination plan, but their definitions of Phase 1B differ.

Front-line health care workers, including first responders, and residents at long-term care facilities qualified for vaccination under Phase 1A of Texas’ plan. People age 65 and over and those who have a chronic medical condition that increases risk for severe illness from COVID19 qualify under Texas’ Phase 1B.

Under Arkansas’ plan, Phase 1A also included health care providers, first responders and longterm care residents. But Arkansas’ Phase 1B includes people age 70 or over and those who work in education, including child care providers.