MIDLAND, Texas — Cheers are still ringing out from healthcare workers across Texas as they are being vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna's 2020 miracle potion: the COVID-19 inoculation.
"Physicians and their staffs, a variety of other entities like Oceans behavioral health and Springboard center, Encompass rehab hospital, our EMS providers, school nurses, dentists in the community," Russell Meyers, president of Midland Memorial Hospital said.
And now, the focus is on to the next.
For Texas and specifically Midland and Odessa this means after our healthcare personnel receive their second dose next week or the following week and once our long term care facility residents receive their first and second doses starting the Monday after Christmas, we'll be transitioning to a new phase, phase 1b.
Monday, the Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel and the Texas Department of State Health Services decided this group includes the people below:
- Those 65 years or older
- And those 16 or older with at least one listed chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
- Solid organ transplantation
- Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
This movement of priority in Texas is because the DSHS said, "More than 70 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Texas have occurred in people 65 and older, and scientific evidence shows that adults of any age with certain medical conditions have an increased risk of hospitalization and death if they get sick with COVID-19."
"These are data driven allocations," Whitney Craig, health and senior services manager from the city of Midland said.
As for transition timing, locally there is no set date yet because our health departments tell us there is no knowledge on when, if and how much vaccine will be allocated to this next phase yet.
"The vaccine is very exciting and something we've been waiting for for a long time, but it will be several months before enough people in our community get the vaccine for us to feel like it's safe to relax those social distancing measures, to take off our masks," Meyers said.