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HOUSTON (Reuters) – Texas will allocate about half of its latest COVID-19 vaccines to just 28 healthcare sites, officials said on Sunday, in a bid to speed up distribution amid rising infections and hospitalizations.
Distribution efforts in the second most populous state in the United States failed as people were forced to wait for hours, online registration sites unable to keep pace, or vaccine locations abruptly changed to because of an overwhelming demand.
The state’s positivity rate, or the percentage of cases that tested positive, was 19.2% on Saturday, up almost 6 percentage points in the past four weeks. New infections have increased by nearly 19,000 and more than 13,000 people have been hospitalized, up 4,000 in the past four weeks.
The concentration of deliveries will simplify registrations and provide more snapshots to eligible residents, the state said in a press release. Leading allocations are based on estimates of the number of people each location could serve. Officials from the State Health Services Department were unavailable for comment.
Of the 310,000 doses expected this week in Texas, about 159,000 will be delivered to just 28 sites. The smaller sites will dispense 38,300 doses and nursing and long-term care facilities will receive 121,875, the state said.
Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Edited by Peter Cooney
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