BEAUMONT, Texas — The first round of coronavirus vaccinations should arrive in Southeast Texas on December 14.
Representatives from the Texas Department of State Health Services released a priority list of who will be getting the vaccine first with a distribution plan.
Almost 3,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the first week. Those will be divided up among Jefferson County's three major hospital systems to be administered.
The vaccines are expected to be delivered across Texas and in the Golden Triangle on Dec. 14, if the FDA approves the vaccine for distribution.
CHRISTUS Health, Baptist Hospital and the Medical Center of Southeast Texas have all been approved to receive and administer the vaccine.
Each hospital system is slated to receive 975 doses during the first week of distribution, totaling just under 3,000.
This amount is not enough for all the healthcare workers here, but Dr. Ray Callas said it is a start. The hospital systems in Southeast Texas are equipped to handle storing and administrating the vaccine.
"So the reason why I think the hospitals got it is that they can be a staging area," anesthesiologist Dr. Ray Callas said. "They can give more than 100, as a matter of fact, I think they are being allotted 1,000 at a time. The biggest thing is that we have to get our health care professionals immunized before everyone else."
Dr. Callas said rural healthcare workers will not be left out.
"I just want to make sure that rumor is put out. Everyone is treated like they are Texans and no square inch of Texas is going to not get treated," Callas said.
The general population cannot just show up to get the vaccine. Healthcare workers on the frontlines will be the first to get the vaccine, and first responders who take patients to hospitals will be next.
Jefferson County is the only county in our region to get the vaccine so far, under the plan rolled out by the state.
CHRISTUS Southeast Texas says the health system is "confident that we will be able to offer vaccination to all CHRISTUS health care workers who wish to receive it."
Full statement from Nikela Pradier, a spokesperson with CHRISTUS:
“Our COVID-19 Taskforce is evaluating and planning for the storage and distribution of a vaccine across our ministries, including at CHRISTUS Southeast Texas Health System, while following the guidance of clinical experts and the frameworks distributed by the Catholic Health Association, Centers for Disease Control, and State Health agencies. We are confident that we will be able to offer vaccination to all CHRISTUS health care workers who wish to receive it. CHRISTUS Southeast Texas has a plan, and we are working through it to ensure that our facilities, Associates and medical staff are prepared to receive, store and distribute COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they become available.”
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