Houston luxury skyscraper faces questions after some tenants gained access to vaccine

HOUSTON – While people wait to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, a luxury skyscraper in Houston is facing questions about how some of its tenants gained access to the vaccines.

A website for Montebello calls the condo building near the Galleria “one of Houston’s luxury skyscrapers,” with units that can sell for millions of dollars. The questions are not about the lists, but about COVID-19 vaccines.

About 60 residents received the vaccine this week, prompting a Daily Beast article to ask, “Why has this chic Houston skyscraper allowed most people to get the vaccine?”

The article quotes Managing Director Daniel Hancock as saying: “We are working with a distributor …”

Hancock wouldn’t go on camera with KPRC 2, but said off camera the building didn’t secure vaccines, a supplier did. He said the supplier had previously offered flu shots to residents here and offered the vaccine after receiving doses.

“These injections have been given by an authorized provider to persons in Group 1B (particularly 65 years of age and older), as expressly encouraged by the State of Texas. My understanding is that many other high-rise buildings with similar populations have also received vaccines designated for group 1B, ”he said in a written statement.

A resident who has been vaccinated said most of the people who live in Montebello are elderly and, given his age, he does not want to be COVID.

Hancock said the supplier also donated the vaccines to other buildings. The director said the supplier was on the state’s vaccine recipient list, but would not name the supplier, so KPRC 2 could not verify this or contact the supplier.