New year can’t shake focus from COVID-19
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It’s a new year, but the news out of the capital continues to focus on COVID-19. Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted last week that “a significant portion of vaccines distributed across Texas might be sitting on hospital shelves as opposed to being given to vulnerable Texans. The state urges vaccine providers to quickly provide all shots. We get plenty more each week.” Many health providers and county health department officials responded that they were working as quickly as they could to give shots to front-line health care workers and lacked the doses necessary to move to what Texas calls phase 1B recipients. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, phase 1B recipients include those 65 and older and those 16 and older with medical conditions that would put them at greater risk from COVID-19. Various state news outlets reported Texans in phase 1B could not find any vaccine available to them yet. The state health department encouraged the public to check its website weekly for updates on vaccine availability. In the meantime, people should continue wearing a face mask when in public and follow all social distancing guidelines, health officials said.