BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - As the Brazos Hub prepares to give shots to anyone over the age of 18 who wants one beginning Monday morning, hub officials are continuing to look at ways to expand their reach even further.
Despite the large expansion in who is eligible to get the vaccine moving forward, logistical operations here at the hub won’t be changing much. Brazos County COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force Chief Jim Stewart says a larger part of their focus will be trying to get doses to those people who weren’t jumping at the chance right off the bat - members of underserved communities and those who have shown minimal or no interest in getting the vaccine.
The Brazos Hub will administer over 10,000 vaccine doses this week, split between first and second doses. Volunteers and staff will push out all of it over four days, closing to observe the Good Friday holiday. Stewart says the drive-thru operation peaked at nearly 300 vaccinations per hour last week.
“I think that opening it up to everybody will be similar to what it was like when we started,” Stewart said. “We had all my peeps, my age group, where there was a pent-up demand there, and I think now there’s a pent-up demand across the board, and for the next several weeks, I don’t believe we’re going to have any challenge just filling up our slots.”
Stewart expects the hub to continue getting those 10,000 doses each week. However, he does not expect the hub will ever receive doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, not only because its supply is far more limited than the other two available vaccines on the market, but also because the hub has proven how efficient it is administering its two-dose system with the Moderna vaccine.
“We’re still recipients. There’s no discussion with the state,” Stewart said. “They notify St. Joseph Hospital, which is the hub technically, and the pharmacist over there with an email or a phone call and say, ‘Okay, we’re sending you this,’ and that’s what they get.”
Stewart and his team are thinking about what comes after that. The hub successfully completed its first official trip to a portion of Brazos County’s underserved community Saturday, administering all 160 doses allocated to that effort in roughly three hours at the American Legion Hall in Bryan.
“The next outreach will be in Benchley on the 10th of April, and then the next one after that will be the 17th of April at the Santa Teresa Church in West Bryan,” Stewart said.
But getting out of this pandemic means reaching more than just the underserved on top of those who have had easier access to appointments and doses. It also requires convincing those who are still hesitant, even adamant, to change their mind about getting the shot. Stewart says the first steps have been taken in designing a campaign.
“Part of me thinks that’s not really the hub’s job. The hub is to put the vaccine in the arm of the people that want the vaccine,” Stewart said. But people look to me as the leader of this vaccination hub, and I think there’s an expectation that’s part of my role also is to convince people to get the vaccine, so I’m going to start working on that effort.”
Stewart says the hub administered its 50,000th dose of the vaccine around 4 p.m. on Friday. He added that just this morning, Brazos County Hub Incident Commander Trad Mills said he’d like to see them push out 100,000 shots before their work is done.
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All adults in Texas will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations beginning Monday - KBTX
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