Officials in Hays County are asking residents to be patient as the county waits on more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the state.
"That's our virtue for right now," Emergency Services Director Mike Jones said during a Facebook Live on Friday. "For as you know, we cannot employ our plans that we put together quite well for vaccine distribution and dispensing until, of course, we have the vaccine."
County officials hosted the Facebook Live to answer all-too-familiar questions and concerns about where to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The county maintains that without more vaccine from the state, however, there's not much it can do.
"Once we do get the vaccine in place, we will be opening dispensing sites and we'll be putting that on social media. That won't be a secret," Jones said. "You'll know where to go to."
"I don't know if that's symbolic or not, because we have approximately 300,000 people in Hays County."Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra, referring to the 300 doses the county received from the state
Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said the county recently received 300 doses of vaccine.
"I don't know if that's symbolic or not, because we have approximately 300,000 people in Hays County," he said. "I'm hoping for more. I am going to continue to fight for the residents of Hays County in every way I can."
Last week, Becerra sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott asking the state to make local health departments priority providers. Most of the COVID-19 vaccines in Texas have gone to private providers, like H-E-B pharmacies and the Austin Regional Clinic.
The county is "anxiously waiting for more" doses, Tammy Crumley, director of the Hays County Health Department, said.
"We have been waiting for weeks to provide those to the public," she said. “It is very frustrating for us as a local health department not to be able to provide that to the public, but that is unfortunately where we are at right now."
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