BEAUMONT, Texas — The Southeast Texas vaccine committee hopes to resolve the frustration and confusion surrounding COVID-19 vaccines.
The committee announced a new distribution plan for the most vulnerable in our community. Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said the plan has already been submitted to the state.
Four county judges spoke at the press conference Monday with one goal — a vaccination hub for Southeast Texas.
"It's rare that you see the government gets to work together as well as this group does," Orange County Judge John Gothia said at the press conference.
"We're stronger together and we're going to prove that again this time," Hardin County Judge Wayne McDaniel said.
"We have submitted a plan to the state," Branick said. "We have requested 22,000 vaccines from the state. We have commitments from all of our partners here that we can do 11,000 doses a week."
Officials said that multi-county committee is working together in an effort to streamline the vaccination process across Southeast Texas. As of Monday, it is unclear if the state will honor Branick's request, but county officials said when that happens, they will be ready.
Branick also gave a sneak peek into how the mass vaccination effort would operate.
"Our agreement is Jefferson County will receive vaccines with Lamar University in their new Science and Technology building, storing this in our freezers for us," he said.
Pickup and delivery would be handled by security and transferred using Texas vaccine allocation and ordering system.
"Each individual entity that administers the vaccine will be responsible for inputting the vaccine for the individuals into the state Immtrak and TDM systems daily," Branick said.
Everyone in the five-county coalition would be able to sign up at vaccine.beaumonttexas.gov for registration.
Anyone who cannot access the website can sign up on a centralized phone number at (409) 550-2536 during regular business hours.
"I'm going to ask the public to be patient as they attempt to access that, because I'm sure there's going to be a number of people calling at one time," Branick said.
County officials stressed at Monday's press conference that most people will not be vaccinated until late 2021 or early 2022.