Travis County vaccine providers receive 46,540 doses week of March 1

Vaccine providers in Travis County have collectively been allotted 46,540 first-round doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from the Texas Department of State Health Services for the week of March 1.

Regional hub providers Austin Public Health and UT Health Austin will receive 12,000 and 9,360 doses, respectively. Ascension Seton Medical Center, located at 1201 W. 38th St., Austin, will receive 14,040, the largest allocation of any Travis County provider this week. A number of smaller pharmacies and clinics received small allocations in the 100-300 range, including Tarrytown Pharmacy and Lamar Plaza Drug Store.

Texas’ vaccine distribution remains in Phase 1B, which includes people over age 65 and those with certain high-risk medical conditions. Individuals in Phase 1B seeking appointments can find information about availability at various providers throughout Central Texas at www.centraltxvaccs.org. A complete list of statewide vaccine allocations can be found here.

DSHS said in a March 1 tweet that Texas has begun receiving the newly Food and Drug Administration-authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine as well; 24,000 doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be distributed between three Federal Emergency Management Agency vaccination sites March 2—located in Dallas, Tarrant and Harris counties. Next week, Texas will receive 200,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna shots continue to be distributed in separate allocations to vaccine providers several weeks after first doses are administered by a provider. Travis County providers will receive 15,140 second doses this week, according to the DSHS.

Austin Public Health is contacting patients individually to set up second-dose appointments. However, APH said March 1 that anyone who received a first dose from APH and has not been contacted for a follow-up appointment within 42 days—the maximum time recommended for a follow-up dose by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—may walk up to a vaccine site and present the vaccine card given to them at their first appointment, and they should then receive a vaccine.

Additionally, APH said March 1 that it had worked through a backlog of appointments caused by severe weather and power outage delays in February and announced it would release 4,000 additional first-dose appointments through its registration portal that evening. APH normally releases appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays.