I don’t have any vaccine, yet. We are doing more training online tomorrow afternoon to be prepared when the State of Texas decides to give us some. We will send out an email notifying patients when we get it. In the meantime, thanks to HEB which has the Moderna vaccine and the persistence of my wife, Carolyn, we were able to get our staff immunized, except for one. I am very proud of our staff who every day puts themselves out there for our patients. I had been on the phone making inquiries about the availability of vaccine and never received the information in the text in the photo which I received from a patient at 10:04 PM last night. HEB is involved in immunizing office based physicians who were not able to get their vaccine at their home hospitals as well as their staff. Sometimes people miss their appointments for whatever reason and the vaccine is at risk of being wasted. Vials may also have more than 10 doses in them! They are then allowed to give the unused doses to patients in the next tier. The tier below 1a is 1b, of course. This is adults 65 and over as well as those 16 and over with underlying medical conditions:
People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts
them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as
but not limited to:
• Cancer
• Chronic kidney disease
• COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
• Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
• Solid organ transplantation
• Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
• Pregnancy
• Sickle cell disease
• Type 2 diabetes mellitus
You can call around to different HEB pharmacies and ask to be put on a call list. If vaccine becomes available they will call you and ask you to come in right away to receive the vaccine. They will then call you to receive the second vaccine in 4 weeks. There is no centralized scheduling number. It involves calling around to different pharmacies and asking. Be persistent. You may have to call a half dozen none of which are in your zip code. One patient was able to get immunized this afternoon.
Remember, if you get vaccinated, don’t boast and don’t post. Be thankful.
I think that when they finish with 1a, they will just roll on to 1b. I think you are going to have the best chance of getting a vaccine the soonest at a chain pharmacy. Maybe I will be proven wrong, but that is how it’s looking to me.
We will be ready if they decide to send us vaccine, but remember, they (the state) sent one of the largest hospital systems in San Antonio only 2,995 doses when the vaccine was rolled out.
Also, remember that a vaccine is an adjunct to the things that have been proven to prevent Covid, not a substitute. You are still going to need to wear a mask and socially distance if you get the vaccine.
