The city temporarily closed its senior waiting list for a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday after calling more than 70,000 people to sign up, and will focus its latest shipment of 9,000 doses on the most vulnerable.
That meant the Houston Department of Health did not open new appointments, as it did last week.
Instead, it will direct approximately 5,300 doses to the waiting list, which is managed by the Harris County Area Agency on Aging. Another 2,400 are going to providers in vulnerable communities, and 1,300 are reserved for appointments previously discussed, the department announced.
“We know it’s important to vaccinate those who are most vulnerable, and they should be one of the first to get shots, especially if there is scarce supply,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “The Houston Health Department’s distribution plan for next week focuses on people at higher risk for illness and death and people living in vulnerable communities.”
The doses heading to vulnerable communities will go to Walgreens locations on Walesville Road and Airline Drive, along with Hope Clinic and Ibn Sina, who according to the health department will offer the shots to their existing customers.
Livier Silva, a medical assistant, points thumbs up to a motorist who received a dose of COVID-19 Modern vaccine in Houston on January 29, 2021. The site is operated in a partnership between the city and United Memorial Medical Center.
Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff PhotographerCity officials also said they are planning second doses for those who have already received their first shot. Next week is scheduled to be shot for people who received their first dose on December 31, January 4 or January 5 at the George R. Brown Conference Center; between January 3 and January 8 from other clinics for health departments; and on Jan. 9 at Minute Maid Park.
More information about the schedule is available on the city’s website.
Many residents were anxious about the appointments because their 28-day windows were approaching and they did not hear from the city. Health officials are asking residents not to inquire about the appointments unless they are within 48 hours of the 28-day window and have heard nothing.
The city has cited a new guideline from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that says the second dose should be administered as close as possible to 28 days after the first admission, but it can be given up to 42 days later.
Yet officials said people should be able to get their second doses on time.
“We expect two-dose appointments to be offered within the 28-day period,” said Scott Packard, communications director for the health department.
As of Friday morning, the city had given 34,503 Moderna shots. About 10,000 of them were distributed on a Minute Maid Park mega-website that launched the city on two Saturdays and has since been discontinued.
It now hosts shots at Bayou City Event Center, Delmar Stadium, the conference center, and in the Northside, La Nueva Casa de Amigos, Sharpstown and Sunnyside health centers, along with the JW Peavy Senior Center and the Acres Homes, Hiram Clarke, and Magnolia multi-service centers.
Appointments are required for all vaccinations and there are currently no new slots available.
Residents can sign up for notifications of new appointments by signing up for the HoustonRecovers option at AlertHouston. The city said it would contact and investigate people who left a message to get on the Aging’s waiting list in the coming days. It emphasizes that people do not have to call back.
The separate Harris County vaccine waiting list is available on its website. The site experienced technical difficulties when it launched on Tuesday, but more than 165 000 people has already signed up.
Anyone can get on that waiting list, but currently vaccines are limited to certain frontline workers, people 65 and older and those with certain health conditions.
These include cancer; chronic kidney disease; COPD; hearing conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathy; solid organ transplantation; obesity; pregnancy; sickle cell disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus.