Houston Seniors Begin Getting Long-Sought Covid-19 Vaccinations
Manoj Biswas, 79, a retired OBGYN, receives his first dose of the Pfizer-manufactured COVID-19 vaccine from RN Lizette Coronado on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, at Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. The hospital started including seniors and patients with chronic conditions this week. Photo: Mark Mulligan
By Dylan McGuinness
Houston: Hospitals and medical providers in Houston have begun vaccinating patients who are senior citizens this week, as the sweeping public inoculation campaign extends past front-line workers for the first time.
Some 3,000 people who are 75 or older are scheduled to get their first shots this week at Methodist Hospital. Memorial Hermann has scheduled nearly 5,000 of its medical group patients who are at least 65. CVS started a targeted effort at long-term care facilities Monday with the hopes of eventually vaccinating 275,000 patients. Each of those providers began vaccinating those residents this week, while similar plans are underway — though not quite as far along — at MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine and Harris Health, among others. They are all continuing to vaccinate front-line workers as well.
Manoj Biswas, 79, a retired OBGYN, received his first dose of the Pfizer-manufactured COVID-19 vaccine from RN Lizette Coronado on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, at Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. The hospital started including seniors and patients with chronic conditions in their vaccination program this week.
“A lot of us are running those campaigns side by side,” said Roberta Schwartz, an executive vice president at Methodist. “What we’ve found is we can maximize the number of people coming through if we run them side by side.”
The expansions mark the region’s entry into the next phase of the state’s vaccination plan. The first, Phase 1A, prioritized front-line workers in hospitals, emergency medical technicians, school nurses and others. Phase 1B includes seniors over 65 and others over 16 with certain high-risk conditions. They include cancer, chronic kidney diseased, COPD, heart conditions, solid organ transplantation, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
The Texas Department of State Health Services remains in Phase 1A but has guided providers to begin moving toward new populations if they have reached all willing participants among front-line workers. Still, they have to reserve capacity for front-line workers as they move on. Houston Chronicle