Dallas County Changes Access to COVID Vaccine – Again. The objective is to target the most vulnerable neighborhoods

The Dallas County Department of Health to begin prioritizing residents of predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods for the COVID-19 vaccine in Fair Park after limited early data showed many vaccines were intended for residents of communities North.

In a divided vote, the commissioners shifted the county’s efforts to vaccinate anyone who meets the state’s broader criteria – provided they are registered to be vaccinated with the county and live in one of 10 postal codes identified Tuesday. The county previously focused on vaccinating residents 75 and older.

Postal codes are completely or partially below Interstate 30 – which for decades has divided the county based on race and wealth. They were selected because they rank high on the county’s Coronavirus Vulnerability Index, which tracks the likelihood of a resident contracting COVID, or because of long-standing health inequalities identified in a report released by the County and Parkland Health & Hospital System last year.

The change in the county’s immunization priorities was sponsored by Commissioner JJ Koch, a Republican who represents northern Dallas County. This is the latest overhaul of the county’s vaccination effort at Fair Park, which began on January 11.

The move came after Dallas County released vaccination data broken down by zip code that showed most of the injections were intended for residents of white, affluent neighborhoods such as Preston Hollow. The data did not include specific demographics such as race, gender, and age.

While Koch has said he hopes his order will make the process easier, he is sure to inject more uncertainty into an already chaotic vaccination schedule that has been stalled by mixed messages and impromptu changes. The move also removes residents of most of the county’s municipalities, who donate staff to help manage the vaccination site.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who previously criticized the county’s management of the vaccination site, declined to comment on Tuesday.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who abstained from the 3-1 vote, said he expects the county to start offering appointments next week for 27,000 residents of those zip codes who are registered for a vaccine. Assuming the county doesn’t see a dramatic increase in the state’s vaccines or more residents of those neighborhoods sign up for appointments, it will take at least a month to get them vaccinated, Jenkins said.

The state makes vaccines available to any doctor or nurse who has close contact with patients with COVID-19, other healthcare workers, and Texans 65 years of age or older or anyone with a blood disorder. major health such as cancer, diabetes or kidney disease.

Thousands of residents have already made appointments or received an invitation to do so according to existing criteria for this week and next. And during the debate, Jenkins suggested the reorganization could violate the county’s contract with the state, which requires the site to vaccinate any resident of Texas.

The state health department did not return a request for comment.

Commissioner Elba Garcia, a Democrat who represents Dallas County, voted against the proposed change, saying she trusted the Department of Health to find the most equitable mix of residents to receive the vaccine.

“I don’t want to limit what the ministry can do,” she said.

The county is expected to honor its existing appointments and invitations, Koch said in an interview after the meeting. He also suggested that Parkland and UT Southwestern Medical Center could immunize other high-need populations. And he signaled an immediate opening to change the county hierarchy – as long as the five members of the commissioner tribunal had a chance to weigh in.

“What I presented was brutally simple,” Koch said. “It will be insufficient in the short term. Changes will have to be worked out, but they will be worked out with the five county commissioners – not just the county judge.

Since the vaccines were approved by the federal government late last year, Koch has fallen out with Jenkins over how to prioritize the limited supply. Previously, he suggested the county should focus on essential workers, such as grocery store clerks. Blacks and Latinos who live in poor neighborhoods are more likely to work these blue collar jobs and be susceptible to the worst symptoms of COVID.

Since the coronavirus pandemic reached north Texas, Koch and his fellow commissioners have expressed outrage at Jenkins’ unilateral action. As a county judge, Jenkins has broad authority in an emergency. Last spring, the commissioners limited some of Jenkins’ power.

Tuesday’s debate echoed this frustration.

“Right now what happened last week we don’t own,” Koch told Jenkins during one of the court’s most frantic exchanges in months. “And we have to make our own what happened.”

The scene at Fair Park during its inaugural week quickly got out of hand, officials acknowledged. First, residents who did not meet the county’s original criteria of being 75 or older made reservations for the vaccine using an unauthorized link to the registration system. After finding out about the glitch, Jenkins and his team decided to open the site to anyone over the age of 75, regardless of a date.

In an effort to increase the number of blacks and Latinos who would be vaccinated in the first week, Jenkins and county staff quietly contacted religious leaders, state lawmakers and others with ties to these communities. . News that a date was no longer needed at Fair Park quickly spread on social media, thwarting Jenkins’ plan to correct the course.

The location of Fair Park was originally chosen with the aim of ensuring that blacks and Latinos living in southern neighborhoods with limited access to pharmacies, grocery stores and health clinics have a chance to get vaccinated.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, the county was set to expand access to the vaccine to anyone over 65 with a serious health condition.

County health director Dr Philip Huang told commissioners his team was weighing invitations for race and ethnicity, as well as geography. The highlights of Koch’s postal code order were already oversampled by the county in its latest invitations, Huang said.

“I want to vaccinate everyone, but we have to make some decisions,” said Huang, defending the county’s decision to initially only vaccinate those 75 and over. “And we want to have the biggest impacts.”

Commissioner John Wiley Price, a Democrat who represents South Dallas, said as long as the county focuses on those 75 and over, black residents will be left behind.

“We won’t get to 75,” Price said, referring to the lower life expectancy of blacks.