At its peak, the mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex in Williamson County was administering about 4,000 doses per day.
Now it鈥檚 half that.
County health officials will close the North Austin drive-thru hub in mid-May, shifting the responsibility to a growing number of doctors, pharmacies, public health offices and other smaller providers who have closer relationships with and easier access to the county鈥檚 estimated 200,000 eligible residents who haven鈥檛 yet gotten vaccinated.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still moving along,鈥� said Jen Stratton, director of communications for Family Hospital Systems in Williamson County, which partners with the county to run the hub. 鈥淥ur focus is just changing.鈥�
It鈥檚 part of a new approach by health officials across the state to get vaccines moving again as Texas confronts the next chapter in its massive vaccine rollout: Its first and glut in supply since vaccinations began last winter.
On Friday, Texas health officials sent letters to the state鈥檚 nearly 8,000 registered vaccine providers that some 280,000 doses would be coming into the state鈥檚 warehouse next week and are up for grabs.
Starting this week, the state will start asking the federal government only for doses that providers have ordered, as opposed to asking for as much as they can get, an agency spokesperson said.
鈥淚 encourage you to consider what you can do to make one more big push to quickly vaccinate those who are willing,鈥� read from the Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt to vaccine providers on Friday. 鈥淭his is our path out of the pandemic and back to normal lives.鈥�
Both state and local health officials that the tables would eventually turn from not enough supply to more than enough.
鈥淚t happened with H1N1 [the 鈥渟wine flu鈥� pandemic of 2009-10], too. As it happens in all of these types of events,鈥� said Dr. David Lakey, vice chancellor for health affairs and a chief medical officer at the University of Texas System, and a member of the state's Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel. 鈥淓arly on, there is so much more demand than there is supply. And then it quickly tips in the other direction, where supply exceeds demand.
鈥淪o the state right now has a lot of vaccine in freezers, and other providers have vaccines in freezers, that they鈥檙e trying to get out to individuals.鈥�
Just over a third of the state鈥檚 22 million eligible Texans 鈥� people 16 years and older 鈥� are already against the virus that has killed in Texas in the past year. The earliest among those recipients lined up in hourslong queues, added their names to monthslong online waiting lists and at the end of the day hoping for a chance to receive unused doses as demand far outstripped supply.
The state鈥檚 effort to reach the ones still out there 鈥� the , the unaware, the inconvenienced and the overworked among the 12 million as-yet-unvaccinated eligible Texans 鈥� includes trucks driving through small rural towns with LED signs, a and a truck with a large video screen stopping at Walmart parking lots in 22 Texas cities, playing five-minute loops customized for each stop with ads, local leaders encouraging residents to get vaccinated and testimonials pulled from social media.
Locals are also brainstorming ways to lure in people with gifts 鈥� Harris County may offer of baseball star Jos茅 Altuve of the Houston Astros 鈥� and encouraging private companies to donate gift cards as incentives. They鈥檙e sending out emergency cellphone alerts, touting the vaccine on digital freeway traffic signs, running pop-up vaccine clinics in workplace break rooms and hanging sign-up sheets at the back of churches during Sunday services.
The messaging and the shift to smaller providers is the natural next step, state health officials said, in 鈥渢he next phase鈥� of the campaign to drive demand for the vaccine.
鈥淥ur research shows that individual health care providers are the most trusted voices for people deciding whether to get vaccinated,鈥� Hellerstedt said. 鈥淥ver the coming weeks, we will continue to share messages encouraging various communities to get vaccinated. We are also relying on trusted voices within those communities to speak up and let their neighbors know that these COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and the best way to end the pandemic and restore normalcy.鈥�
The new messaging push is made possible by the fact that Texas is now getting , when officials were hesitant to encourage a lot of demand for a vaccine they didn鈥檛 have.
It鈥檚 also made necessary by the fact that many of these Texans have to be found, convinced and then vaccinated on their terms, Lakey said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a harder process to get the next group of individuals immunized,鈥� Lakey said. 鈥淭he ones that were really anxious [to get vaccinated], I think, have been immunized at this point.鈥�
On the local level, officials are closing hubs in some places, like Lubbock, while allowing walk-ins and extending hours in others, like Harris County, which saw an uptick in recipients at its after staying open until 9 p.m. over the weekend.
In Williamson County, the county reduced its waiting list from more than 200,000 in January to about one-tenth of that 鈥� and then two weeks ago after only 5% of the remaining names on the list were showing up for appointments. County Judge Bill Gravell urged residents to talk to their doctors if they want to get the shot and herd immunity in the county by the end of May.
Soon, communities will be able to apply for a portion of $10 million that state health officials have earmarked for grants to help locals find and fund creative ways to push out their vaccines.
Although vaccination is more of a health issue than a political one, the approach some health officials are taking is not unlike candidates鈥� efforts to reach voters, said Rafael Lemaitre, spokesperson for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
鈥淚n many ways, this has to be a political campaign,鈥� Lemaitre said.
Indeed, much of the ground game is the same: Grassroots advocacy, block-walking, word-of-mouth efforts and even population data analysis.
In East Texas, where vaccination rates have dropped dramatically in some areas, state health officials cross-reference census and demographic information with the state鈥檚 vaccine registry system to find residents who haven鈥檛 been vaccinated yet. Then they talk to those residents to find out what their challenges are, said Dr. Sharon Huff, regional DSHS director in Tyler.
The district has started reserving Fridays for second doses, which have a higher instance of mild flu-like side effects in some people, so that symptoms don鈥檛 interfere with typical work days, she said. Her office has also convinced some employers to give workers time off or host clinics on-site.
Huff鈥檚 office has also started bringing all three brands of the vaccine to events to accommodate people who, for religious or other reasons, want one vaccine over another.
Huff鈥檚 office has engaged the help of county judges and pastors to discuss questions or concerns by those who are hesitant, held clinics at rural Black churches and community centers so that people can get the shot where they normally gather, and even knocked on doors in low-income apartment complexes to pass out fliers and talk with residents.
When staffers at a small-town vaccine event get word of a person nearby who is housebound 鈥� usually from a local official who knows everyone in town 鈥� Huff sends over a nurse with a single dose in a syringe to check that person off the list.
It鈥檚 a slower, more deliberate approach than the frenetic triage that characterized the first few months, Huff said. But each little action brings the state closer to its goal of protecting Texas from the devastating impact of the virus.
It may only be 100 doses administered in her region a day, as opposed to the previous daily rate closer to 1,000, Huff said. But it has a ripple effect and, more importantly, keeps the vaccine moving 鈥� even if it鈥檚 at a slower pace than before.
鈥淚 think what we鈥檙e doing is working,鈥� Huff said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 get a lot of numbers, but I do think we鈥檙e reaching the people that need to be reached and. if anything, that helps spread the word.鈥�