FORT WORTH, Texas — As of last week, more than 436,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been given out in Tarrant County. But county officials say many more could be given out, and quickly, if only they had the supply.
"We're distributing vaccines as quickly as they're giving them to us," said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley.
Whitley said Tuesday he believes the state isn't giving the county its fair share of doses when you look at population and how many people from other counties Tarrant County is serving.
"We're getting between 24,000 and 25,000 vaccines this week," Whitley said. "Denton County, less than half our population, are getting 25,000. Collin County, which is less than half our population, is getting 30-something thousand."
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That is true, if you look only at the doses the state gave to county hubs. But the state points out when you add up the doses given to all vaccine providers, Tarrant County actually received 36,700 doses this week, including a few thousand Johnson & Johnson doses that weren't initially included on the state's online database.
"...we and the Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel try to get vaccination allocation roughly proportional to the county population to be as fair as possible," said Chris Van Deusen with the Texas Department of State Health Services.
"It is very frustrating," said Vinny Taneja, who heads Tarrant County's Public Health Department. "We’re just not getting enough vaccine. Demand is there, but we’re not getting enough vaccine."
Taneja said Tuesday that Public Health alone could be giving out 40,000 doses a week; instead, he said they're operating at a quarter of that capacity.
"Even today, we keep getting messages and calls: Hey it's slow here, can you send us some more appointments?" he said. "Yes, but—I don't have vaccine. So that's the concern here."