COVID VACCINE UPDATE: Vaccination roll-out continues in Rockwall County

ROCKWALL, TX – Jan. 27, 2021 – In partnership, Rockwall County and Rockwall County Helping Hands distributed one hundred and ten (110) doses of COVID-19 vaccine last week to Liberty Heights and Reese Manor senior living facilities. First doses were given to residents and staff who opted to receive the vaccine. As of January 27, 2021, four thousand two hundred and twenty-nine (4,229) Rockwall County residents have received the first dose and seven hundred and eighty (780) residents are fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

Last week, the Rockwall County Library served as a vaccination location for those with an appointment in the county’s first “mass vaccination” operation. The partnership between Helping Hands and Rockwall County successfully vaccinated three hundred and thirty-eight (338) individuals with the first dose of the Moderna vaccine.

An additional two hundred (200) doses of the vaccine have been allocated to Rockwall County Helping Hands this week. These doses are being administered at the Health Center of Helping Hands to individuals already on the waitlist. If you are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine per the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Phase 1A or 1B definitions, you may register for the waitlist here: www.blockitnow.com/rockwallwaitlist. This waitlist is the only way to receive a vaccine through Helping Hands. There are currently over five thousand (5000) individuals on this waitlist, so please be patient. The problem is supply and we are fighting hard for it. The partners and plans are in place. The vaccine is the missing component.

Rockwall County is preparing to receive increased allocations. Recently the county purchased an ultra-cold freezer unit to hold large amounts of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. The Pfizer vials are required to be stored at temperatures between -112ºF to -76ºF. The county proactively made this purchase because few providers have this ultra-cold storage capability. Therefore, the Pfizer vaccine may be more available to the county. Additionally, Pfizer’s minimum allocation is nine hundred and seventy-five (975), whereas the Moderna vaccine minimum is one hundred (100).

How quickly these doses will be allocated by the Texas DSHS Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel is still a question. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Fox News on Sunday, “I can’t tell you how much vaccine we have, and if I can’t tell it to you then I can’t tell it to the governors, and I can’t tell it to the state health officials.” Representative Justin Holland’s office has assisted Rockwall County in requesting more allocations of the COVID-19 vaccine as well.

For more information, visit: https://www.rockwallcountytexas.com/1065/COVID-19-Vaccine-in-Rockwall-County

Submitted press release by Rockwall County Office of Emergency Management, edited for publication in Blue Ribbon News.

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