Houston Methodist COVID-19 vaccine appointments closed after appointments

HOUSTON The Houston Methodist Hospital, the largest vaccine provider in Texas at the moment, no longer takes COVID-19 vaccine appointments after the slots were filled shortly after it was launched Monday.

The application for public vaccine went into effect Monday afternoon.

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Within hours, no more appointments were available.

The site contained a special note stating the following:

‘Thank you for visiting our vaccination center website. We have had an overwhelming response, and due to the limited vaccine supply, there are unfortunately no more appointments available at the moment.

‘We continue to work with city and state officials to identify and vaccinate our most vulnerable members of the community. We will advise the community when we can repost the form for more registered.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

The hospital said it prioritizes those who are 75 and older, and 65 and older with other health problems, as well as health workers.

Roberta Schwartz, the executive vice president who manages the distribution of the vaccine for the hospital, said it will administer approximately 14,000 first doses and between 12-13,000 second doses this week.

“We work through public sign-ups, we work through patient databases and we also work through the 1A list while still vaccinating healthcare workers,” Schwartz said.

“We’re looking at … age,” she said. “Then we’re going to some sort of zip code to make sure we reach all of Houston.”

Patient databases contain all with any connection to Houston Methodist. Anyone who has visited the emergency room, or any working or private physicians, or who has undergone a test at a Houston Methodist facility.

The database contains more than half a million people who are eligible for the vaccine in section ‘1B,’ Schwartz said, including “more than 120,000 over the age of 75 and older.”

“At the moment for every vaccine we have, there have been about 1,000 screams for the vaccine,” she added. “I would ask everyone and beg everyone, be patient. It’s a huge process. We have hundreds of people dedicated to (it). ”