MIDLAND, Texas — When can I get the vaccine? That is the hot question right now.
Texas is currently in both phases 1A and 1B.
1A are those moderate-risk health care works and first responders. 1B are those 65 and older or with chronic medical conditions.
Last week, Midland began phase 1B and this week Odessa is expected to enter that phase.
Midland Health Department has vaccinated about 15 people in phase 1B. The Ector County Health Department is just waiting on their phase 1B shipment to arrive.
Each county is only getting 200 doses.
So how can you go about getting the vaccine if you fit the 1B criteria?
Well, for both Midland and Odessa, you first must reach out to your private physician and see if they are offering the vaccine to patients.
If they are: get it through your private physician.
If you do not have a physician or yours is not offering the vaccine, here’s what you do in Midland:
- Go to this website and complete the form to get on the waiting list
- The Midland Health department will call you to schedule an appointment
Here’s what you do in Odessa:
- Reach out to the Ector Co. health department
- Schedule an appointment
- Email odessavaccine@odessa-tx.gov.
Ector County was waiting for the doses to arrive. They arrived Jan. 5 and the health department hopes to have all doses distributed by the end of the week.
As for Midland Co., who got the vaccine last week, they are hoping to distribute all 200 doses of the 1B vaccine by the end of the week.
The I.T. department for the City of Midland has fixed the phone line problems the health department had last week. Midland tells us the phone system was not designed to take the number of calls they were getting.
Ector County Health Department has added staff this week to try and avoid that same problem from happening.