Vaccs Facts – Posted on January 19, 2021

Austin is piloting large-scale vaccine distribution for people in phase 1B

Posted on January 19, 2021

Operational updates

• Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.
• As part of a statewide program to pilot regional COVID-19 vaccination centers, Austin Public Health (APH) received 12,000 doses in last week’s allocation from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
• The 12,000 vaccines, which represent less than 1% of the area’s population, were administered to those who met the state’s criteria for phases 1A and 1B of immunization.
• APH worked with partner organizations to serve uninsured and underinsured people in Phases 1A and 1B from January 11-13.
• On January 13, the APH launched a COVID-19 vaccine pre-registration system allowing area residents to register for future doses of the APH vaccine.
• From January 14-16, the APH vaccinated individuals 1A and 1B who pre-registered using the system at several sites around the city. The 12,000 vaccines were distributed between Monday and Saturday.
• APH received a second shipment of 12,000 vaccines from Texas DSHS as part of the DSHS Week 6 Allocation. APH plans to use the registration system to distribute them all during the week.
• There are currently more than 350 pharmacies, doctor’s offices, hospital groups and other providers registered to provide COVID-19 vaccines in Austin-Travis County.
• At this point, it’s important to remember that not everyone who meets the DSHS and APH criteria will be able to get the vaccine with these first large DSHS allocations. If you can get a vaccine through your health care provider, pharmacy or other provider, please help us keep this allocation limited for our most vulnerable populations.
• APH does not oversee other suppliers and their individual distribution plans. However, APH is working across the health system and vaccine coalition to define guidelines that support the distribution framework of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and DSHS.
• Last week was the last week that the DSHS must reserve doses for the Federal Pharmaceutical Partnership Program for Long-Term Care. This freed up more vaccines for use in other settings in the future.
• Some providers have started vaccinating people in phase 1B, which includes people over 65 and people with health conditions that put them at increased risk of serious illness from COVID-19. However, APH includes conversations with other vendors that demand for the vaccine in Phase 1B exceeds supply from many vendors in the Austin area, who are still focused on Phase 1A.
• As a reminder, the ability to respond to the current outbreak of COVID-19 will determine our ability to distribute the vaccine. The same resources responsible for planning vaccine distribution are also managing testing sites and caring for patients during this record wave. We need to help our public health and health care workers by flattening the curve.

Safety Precautions

• Even with limited vaccines available in our community, people must continue to take additional preventive measures against COVID-19, including: wearing a mask, keeping society away, washing hands often, covering coughs and sneezes, cleaning frequently touched surfaces and staying home sick.
• The CDC recommends that the vaccine be offered to people whether or not they have a history of COVID-19 infection.
• Vaccine trials do not yet know whether people who receive the vaccine can still transmit COVID-19 to others. It is therefore very important that even people who have been vaccinated take the same precautions as before to ensure that they do not inadvertently spread the virus as a vector.
• The FDA has published Pfizer vaccine and Moderna vaccine fact sheets for recipients and caregivers that include information on vaccine ingredients and side effects. The COVID-19 vaccine is given as an injection into the muscle in a series of two doses given three (Pfizer) or four (Moderna) weeks apart. Vaccine recipients will receive an immunization record listing the vaccine and lot number they received and when they should return for a second dose.
• Although the COVID-19 vaccine can cause side effects such as fatigue, headache, fever, chills, nausea, muscle aches and joint pain, these side effects show that the vaccine is working.
• Vaccine recipients should be monitored for at least 15 minutes for a more serious allergic reaction. People with a history of allergic reactions should be monitored for 30 minutes.
• COVID-19 vaccines do not use the live virus and cannot give you COVID-19. The vaccine does not alter your DNA. The COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you by creating an immune response without having to get sick.
• The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will continue to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that even very rare side effects are identified. V-SAFE is a new smartphone-based post-vaccination health checker for people who receive COVID-19 vaccines.

For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, visit www.AustinTexas.gov/COVID19-Vaccines.