AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said things could be back to normal this time next year, if vaccination efforts in the community and Texas are successful.
“It’s going to be challenging for us to kill this off. So I think it’s likely that we’re going to enter a phase similar to flu where we have to identify circulating strains,” Escott said in an interview at Delco Activity Center Saturday.
He believes educating the public and making vaccinations more convenient will be the key in convincing people to get the shot.
Escott said while enough people in Travis County want to get vaccinated, according to surveys, thus making herd immunity achievable, that might be a problem in other parts of Texas and the country.
“So we’re going to have to continue to work to identify folks who we still need to reach out to, folks who still need some convincing that they want to discuss their concerns, and we need to do that,” Escott explained.
Right now at Delco, Escott said they’re averaging 3,000 to 4,000 shots a day. Austin Public Health as a whole has the capacity to administer up to 37,000 shots a week, he said, but that really depends on how much supply they can get.
Escott hopes by May, when vaccine eligibility opens to all adults, allocations will increase for state-designated hubs as well as for smaller providers. It’s really the public-private partnership that will make a difference in making the vaccine more accessible.
“Ultimately, people want a vaccine that is available that’s convenient for them that’s close to home,” Escott said.
APH Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard said 350 providers in Travis County alone are approved to receive vaccines — and the hope is that they actually get them.
Austin-Travis County’s positivity rate last week was less than 5%, according to Escott, but if we take to much risk too suddenly, cases will surge. We’ve seen that in the past over certain holiday weekends, like Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July.
According to projections, Escott said if we continue with restrictions, the curve is likely to approach zero come May or June.
“I think we all love our families, we all embrace the importance of our older family members…. this is the best thing that we can do to protect them. This is the best thing we can do to protect life,” Escott said.
However, he said no protections and more risks will prompt a surge in April that will continue to rise into May and June.
APH said Saturday it will continue to prioritize Phases 1A and 1B and school/child care workers in their system come March 15. APD said it’s working to expand features on the pre-registration website to include options to designate yourself as Phase 1C eligibility, but you can go ahead and register in the system.
“It’s important for folks to be patient with us, because what we know is that we will continue to provide the vaccines, but we’re very hopeful that the federal program is going to continue to see more vaccines,” Hayden-Howard explained.
Right now, APH has administered 134,000 vaccines to the public, with 45,000 being second doses, Hayden-Howard said.
“It just brings me joy to see how people are so happy, because they’re receiving the vaccine,” she said.
Reaching vulnerable populations
Continued efforts to reach vulnerable populations in Austin and Travis County include outreach through APH’s call center, Hayden-Howard explained. More than 80 people are working to make those outbound calls.
Hayden-Howard said in January, they wanted to call center to be focused on vaccine equity by receiving referrals and contact information from local nonprofits of residents in the community who may need help. She said she’s also heard nonprofits are going door-to-door to try and reach people.
Additionally, she said while they’ve been working hard to reach the Hispanic community, they need to do better with targeting the Black community. She hopes they can set up more intimate vaccine sites for the Black community through churches.
“We know it’s important to meet people where they are. So we’ve been having conversations with our faith-based community, and we are looking at how we would go and provide vaccines at their locations and partnering with that specific church or a cluster of churches,” she said.
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