Coronavirus: Essential Texas workers feel snubbed by latest Texas vaccine expansion

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – Texas health officials are extending COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to unvaccinated Texans aged 50 and older, leaving out essential worker groups who hoped to be included.

Starting Monday, March 15, people over 50 will be eligible for a vaccine under the state’s Phase 1C.

The vaccine allocation expert group took a different approach to naming the vaccine, depending on age, not occupation.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, more than 93% of deaths in the state directly caused by the coronavirus are in people 50 years and older. Additionally, Texans between the ages of 50 and 64 account for 20% of all deaths from COVID-19.

As of Wednesday, 44,650 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in Texas.

“The state of Texas has adopted a different strategy than the CDC based on the Texas date,” said panel member Dr. David Lakey. “The data from Texas was very clear. The biggest risk factor for being hospitalized or dying from COVID was not your profession but your age and so we tried to get people 65 and over vaccinated first and foremost. more. Now 50 and over are immune. “
SEE MORE: Track availability and progress of COVID-19 vaccine in Houston

The new group is leaving out thousands of grocery store, postal and restaurant workers as well as bus drivers, many of whom have demonstrated in Austin to demand to be included. The panel said it did not want to give preference to any profession with the data proving it was more at risk.

Union representatives feel snubbed.

“We believe that we are essential workers, first responders. We should be included. There is no reason why we should not be vaccinated,” said Fidel Minor, longtime bus driver for METRO. and vice-president of TWU Local 260, which has 2,000 members. “We are very exposed to the public.”

The Expert Panel on Vaccine Allocation, which makes recommendations, has 17 members across the state.

Group 1C consists of around five million people. Lakey said about a million people in this group fall under 1A or 1B.
Just the week before, the DSHS ordered state vaccine suppliers to vaccinate teachers and educators immediately after a directive from the federal level.

Almost 4.7 million Texans have at least one dose of the vaccine.

SEE ALSO: Texas Medical Center Executives Talk About COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment

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