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Texas announces sites of vaccination hubs

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Texas announces sites of vaccination hubs

Texas health officials on Sunday released a list of coronavirus “vaccination hubs” that will receive the state’s next shipment of vaccines.

The 28 hubs will get 158,825 doses of the vaccine this week, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Another 38,300 doses will go to other providers across the state.

The number of doses that each provider is getting is based on its own estimate of how many people it could vaccinate in a week, DSHS said.

The hubs are meant to streamline large-scale vaccination as Texas continues to prioritize vaccinating people who are health care workers, 65 and older with underlying medical conditions.

“The goal really is to over the next week that we’ll use the vast majority of 150,000 plus doses being sent out to providers tomorrow,” said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for Texas Department State Health Services.

The 28 hubs for this week are located in some of the state’s biggest metropolitan areas, as well as the Rio Grande Valley and more rural regions.

Three of the hubs are in Harris County. The Harris County Health Department and Houston Health Department will get 8,000 doses each.

Houston Methodist hospital will get nearly 11,000 doses.

Many of those appointments are already booked.

In announcing the plan last week, DSHS said the hubs will be required to set up registration phone numbers and websites and to focus on the most vulnerable communities in their regions. Contact information for the hubs can be found here.

“This system should give folks some certainty and dependability on where the vaccine will be available this week or in coming weeks,” said Van Deusen. “Now that doesn’t mean everyone that wants it will get it. This isn’t increasing the amount of vaccine coming to Texas.”

DSHS officials say they expect the vaccine supply to drastically increase in Texas in February and as other vaccines are approved for emergency use.

Here are the 28 hubs, followed by their county and how many doses they are receiving:

  • Bell County Public Health District, Bell, 3,900
  • San Antonio Metro Health District, Bexar, 9,000
  • University Health System, Bexar, 10,725
  • CHI St. Joseph College Station Hospital, Brazos, 1,200
  • Cameron County Public Health, Cameron, 6,000
  • Dallas County Health and Human Services, Dallas, 6,000
  • Parkland Hospital, Dallas, 6,825
  • UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, 10,000
  • Denton County Public Health, Denton, 3,500
  • El Paso Fire Department, El Paso, 5,000
  • University Medical Center of El Paso, El Paso, 5,000
  • Harris County Public Health, Harris, 8,000
  • Houston Health Department, Harris, 8,000
  • Houston Methodist Hospital, Harris, 10,725
  • Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, Hidalgo, 6,500
  • Hidalgo County Health and Human Services, Hidalgo, 5,000
  • City of Lubbock Health Department, Lubbock, 5,000
  • Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center, Maverick, 1,200
  • Waco-McLennan County Public Health District, McLennan, 1,500
  • Ascension Providence Hospital, McLennan, 1,500
  • Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District, Nueces, 4,000
  • Amarillo Public Health Department, Potter, 5,000
  • Northeast Texas Public Health District, Smith, 1,500
  • UT Health Science Center Tyler, Smith, 1,500
  • Tarrant County Public Health, Tarrant, 9,000
  • Texas Health Resources, Tarrant, 10,050
  • Austin Public Health, Travis, 12,000
  • City of Laredo Health Department, Webb, 1,200

Health Officials Work to Speed Up U.S. COVID Vaccine Rollout

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Health Officials Work to Speed Up U.S. COVID Vaccine Rollout

U.S. health officials raced to ramp up the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines across the country as both coronavirus case counts and death tallies continued to hit record highs.

“We really need to get this vaccine out more quickly, because this is really our only tool,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“If we can get a lot of people vaccinated quickly, we might be able to get enough protective immunity into the population that this stops spreading at the rate that it is,” Gottlieb said. “So, we need to acknowledge that it’s not working. We need to hit the reset and adopt a new strategy in trying to get [vaccines] out to patients.”

“Right now, there are 40 million doses sitting on a shelf somewhere. So the feds say it’s with the states. The stats say it’s with the feds. It really doesn’t matter to the patient who’s not getting access to the injection,” he noted. “You have 40 million on the shelf. We have 50 million Americans above the age of 65. So, we have supplied to push it out to that population more aggressively.”

So far, at least 22.1 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been distributed and nearly 6.7 million have made their way into patients’ arms, CNN reported. Health officials had hoped to get 20 million people vaccinated by Jan. 1, but the national rollout has faced delays and roadblocks.

California, where the total number of cases in the state has now hit 2.7 million, will boost its vaccine rollout to now include health care workers, nursing home residents and staff, as well as those living in congregate settings such as assisted living or shelters. So far, the state’s vaccination efforts have struggled, and only about a third of the more than 2.1 million doses received have made it into the arms of residents.

In New York City, officials are hoping to expand access by adding vaccination sites. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that three additional 24/7 vaccination sites would open this week. De Blasio said that the city hopes to reach 100,000 vaccinations by this week, with 1 million vaccinations completed by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Public Health has launched a COVID vaccine locator website in hopes of increasing access in the state that has administered the least vaccines per capita.

In some good news, Pfizer Inc. announced last week that early testing shows its vaccine still works against the more infectious COVID-19 variants first found in Britain and South Africa, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Thursday that his company was about to confirm that its vaccine would also work against the new variants.

Texans in Groups 1A, 1B still having trouble getting COVID-19 vaccine

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Less than 1% of Texans have received a COVID-19 vaccination since doses began to roll out across southeast Texas. Data suggest people are having trouble getting vaccinated.

“I have no idea,” was a common response by people young and old at a national chain Baytown pharmacy, Friday.

Right now, the Texas Department of State Health Services is generally following CDC guidance.

Frontline healthcare workers, residents of long term care facilities, people over 65 (federal guidance is 75), and people over 16 with certain pre-existing health conditions are eligible for the vaccine. The problem is many don’t know what to do, how to get it, or who to contact to get the ball rolling.

“I guess my Doctor will call me,” said a Baytown resident, 81, who preferred not to give his name.

Still others, like Brian Battiste, who has always been told he is an “essential worker,” are at the back of the line when it comes to the vaccine. Battiste is not in Groups 1A or 1B but is a truck driver.

“We have been on the frontlines since the beginning, supplying Walmarts and Home Depots with toilet paper and essentials. We’re considered essential, but we’re not in that figure,” Battiste said.

Battiste said he had inquired with his employer but had not gotten any definitive answers. There is no magic answer. The best bet appears to be pro-active persistence.

 

3 suspects wanted after T-Mobile robbery, chase in SW Houston

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3 suspects wanted after T-Mobile robbery, chase in SW Houston

Houston police are searching for three men who are accused of holding up a T-Mobile store on Saturday night. Officials said the suspects fled once officers arrived at the scene, which led to a chase in southwest Houston.

According to HPD, the robbery occurred at 5873 South Gessner around 7:45 p.m.

Officials said one person has been detained. While they are still searching for the other suspects. The suspects were last seen driving a black sedan.

After fleeing from the police, the suspects left the vehicle at an apartment parking lot and bailed on foot. They reportedly ditched their clothes while they were running.

One of the suspects is accused of beating on doors at an apartment complex trying to get in.

HPD has set a perimeter.

 

Pope Francis to get covid-19 vaccine, calling it an ‘ethical duty’

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Pope Francis to get covid-19 vaccine, calling it an ‘ethical duty’

Pope urges people to get the covid-19 vaccine.

Pope Francis says he will soon receive a vaccine against covid-19, describing it as an ‘ethical duty’ for everyone.

The pontiff, speaking in a television interview scheduled on Italian channel TG5 tonight at 20.40, said the Vatican will begin its vaccination program next week.

Urging people to get vaccinated against covid-19, the 84-year-old pontiff said: “I made an appointment, we must do it.”

“I believe that ethically everyone must take the vaccine” – said the pope – “it is an ethical duty because you risk your health, your life, but you also play with the lives of others.”

Pope Francis described opposition to the coronavirus vaccine as a “suicidal denial that I cannot explain.”

The pope’s forthcoming interview comes as the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano announced the death of the pontiff’s personal doctor.

Fabrizio Soccorsi, aged 78, was being treated for an “oncological pathology” at the Gemelli hospital in Rome but died following complications due to covid-19.

Pope Francis had chosen Soccorsi as his personal doctor in 2015.

 

Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh receive Covid-19 vaccine

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Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh receive Covid-19 vaccine

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh have received their Covid-19 vaccinations, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Saturday.

The inoculations were administered by a household doctor at Windsor Castle, a royal source said.
To prevent inaccuracies and further speculation, Her Majesty, who 94, decided that she would let it be known that she has had the vaccination, the source added. Her husband is 99 years old.
The couple’s son, Prince Charles, tested positive for coronavirus and went into isolation in March. The 72-year-old later said he was lucky to only experience mild symptoms, adding he’d “got away with it quite lightly.”
Meanwhile, their grandson Prince William, second-in-line to the British throne, also tested positive for coronavirus earlier this year, UK media reported, though exactly when he contracted the virus is unclear.
The UK has recorded more than 3 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 80,000 deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University on Saturday.
The UK reported 1,325 coronavirus-related fatalities on Friday — its highest ever daily increase in deaths.
Health officials face a deadly start to 2021 as a new coronavirus variant, first detected in the UK, sweeps the nation.
In the capital, London’s mayor declared a “major incident” on Friday, warning that hospitals in the city were close to being overrun.
“The situation in London is now critical with the spread of the virus out of control,” Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement.
“The number of cases in London has increased rapidly with more than third more patients being treated in our hospitals now compared to the peak of the pandemic last April.
“We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point,” Khan added. “If we do not take immediate action now, our [National Health Service] could be overwhelmed and more people will die.”

Hurt and anger cloud Trump-Pence relationship after clash

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Hurt and anger cloud Trump-Pence relationship after clash

They were never a natural fit, the straight-laced evangelical and the brash reality TV star. But for more than four years, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made their marriage of political convenience work.

Now, in the last days of their administration, each is feeling betrayed by the other. It’s part of the fallout from an extraordinary 24-hour stretch in which Pence openly defied Trump, Trump unleashed his fury on the vice president, and a mob of violent supporters incensed by Trump’s rhetoric stormed the Capitol building and tried to halt the peaceful transfer of power.

The Trump-Pence relationship is “pretty raw right now,” said one top GOP congressional aide, who described multiple phone calls in which Trump berated Pence and tried to pressure the vice president to use powers he does not possess to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Pence, for his part, was left feeling “hurt” and “upset” by the episode, according to people close to him. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Pence’s decision to publicly defy Trump was a first for the notoriously deferential vice president, who has been unflinchingly loyal to Trump since joining the GOP ticket in 2016. Pence has spent his tenure defending the president’s actions, trying to soothe anxious world leaders put off by Trump’s caustic rhetoric, and carefully avoiding the president’s ire.

He has taken on some of the administration’s most high-pressure projects, including leading its response to the coronavirus. And he has stood by Trump even as the president leveled baseless allegations of voter fraud and refused to concede the election after his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Under normal circumstances, the vote-tallying procedure that began on Wednesday would have been a mere formality. But after losing court case after court case, and with no further options at hand, Trump and his allies zeroed in on the congressional tally as their last chance to try to challenge the race’s outcome.

In a bizarre interpretation of the law, they argued that the vice president had the unilateral power to reject Electoral College votes supporting Biden. The Constitution makes clear that only Congress has that power.

The effort effectively turned Pence into a scapegoat who could be blamed for Trump’s loss if the vice president refused to go along with the plan. Trump and his lawyers spent days engaged in an aggressive pressure campaign to force Pence to bend to their will in a series of phone calls and in-person meetings, including one that stretched for hours on Tuesday.

When Pence, who consulted with his own legal team, constitutional scholars, and the Senate parliamentarian, informed Trump on Wednesday morning that he would not be going along with the effort, the president “blew a gasket,” in the words of one person briefed on the conversation.

“If Mike Pence does the right thing we win the election,” Trump wrongly insisted. He repeatedly returned to Pence throughout his speech as he tried to pressure the vice president to fall in line.

But Trump already knew what Pence intended. And as Trump spoke, Pence released a letter to Congress laying out his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim “unilateral authority” to reject states’ electoral votes. He soon gaveled into order the joint session of Congress where his and Trump’s defeat would be cemented.

Not long after that, members of Trump’s rally crowd arrived at the Capitol, where they overwhelmed police, smashed windows, occupied the building and halted the electoral proceedings. Pence was whisked from the Senate chamber to a secure location, where he was held for hours with staff as well as his wife and daughter, who had been there to support him.

Trump did not call to check in on his vice president’s safety during the ordeal and instead spent much of Wednesday consumed with anger over Pence’s action, tweeting, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”

Later, members of the mob outside the Capitol were captured on video chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!”

For allies of Pence, it was a deeply upsetting episode that put the vice president in danger after four years of unstinting loyalty to the president and left Pence himself feeling hurt.

“I just think he’s had enough,” said John Thompson, who served as Pence’s campaign spokesman and also worked for the Republican Governors’ Association.

“Yesterday just really pulled on his heartstrings,” Thompson said. “He’s been this loyal individual and the president was asking him to break the law and act outside his constitutional duties. I think it just reached a boiling point and the vice president said, ‘I’ve had enough.’”

Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma told Tulsa World, “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”

“He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for (Trump),’” Inhofe added.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an informal Trump adviser, also came to Pence’s defense, tweeting that his action was “a profile in courage.”

It remains unclear how the dynamic between Trump and Pence will play out over the next two weeks and how long the president will hold his grudge. The White House declined to discuss Trump’s thinking, but allies said Pence intends to spend the next two weeks focused on the transition.

He is also expected to attend Biden’s inauguration.

And while Pence had been banking on his close relationship with the president to propel him to top-tier status if he decides to run for president in 2024, allies said they didn’t think the vice president’s actions this week would have long-term consequences, even if some voters blame him for Trump’s defeat.

“I thought that was a very courageous moment for him,” Thompson said. “And I think that’s going to help his future.”

Trump did not check on Pence during U.S. Capitol siege and they haven’t spoken since

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Trump did not check on Pence during U.S. Capitol siege and they haven’t spoken since

President Donald Trump is increasingly isolated in the wake of the deadly mob attack by his supporters on the U.S. Congress last week.

Banned from Twitter for inciting violence, Trump is unable to communicate with his supporters as calls for his removal grow not just among Democrats, but among leading members of his own party in the United States’ Senate.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is expected to move forward with an unprecedented second impeachment on Monday and charge Trump with “incitement to insurrection” for his role in the mob attack that left five people dead including a police officer.

Trump also appears increasingly isolated within his own administration.

Trump did not check on Pence during the siege and they have not spoken since; two Cabinet secretaries have resigned, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has cut short his overseas trip to facilitate the transition to the Biden administration.

At this rate, January will be the deadliest month of Covid-19 in the US

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At this rate, January will be the deadliest month of Covid-19 in the US

It took about 90 days for the United States to reach its first 2 million cases of coronavirus last year.

But it took just 10 days to hit 2.2 million cases in 2021, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
And new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths keep soaring.
“We’re in a dire situation,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
“We know how to slow the spread of the virus. We need mask mandates. We need people to really stay at home and avoid any indoor gatherings.”
But officials say many Americans did the opposite over the holidays, gathering with friends or extended family. Now the consequences are becoming more evident in packed hospitals across the country.

A deadlier pace than 2020

More than 27,000 new Covid-19 deaths have been reported in just the first 10 days of 2021, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
At this rate, more people could die from Covid-19 in January than any other month of this pandemic. December had a record high of 77,431 deaths due to Covid-19.
How Atlanta is preparing to tackle vaccination challenges 03:18
Saturday, the United States suffered 3,655 new Covid-19 deaths, along with 269,623 new infections, according to Johns Hopkins.
In hard-hit Arizona, the crisis will get worse, said Joe K. Gerald, associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health.
“We should expect to set new records for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths over the coming weeks. Policy action is urgently needed to mitigate the worst possible outcome,” Gerald wrote.
He also expressed concern about “the inevitable arrival of the more highly transmissible” strain of coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom and has spread to at least eight US states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
“If it gathers a foothold, it will accelerate, lengthen, and deepen Arizona’s outbreak,” Gerald said.
Thursday was the first day the US reported more than 4,000 new Covid-19 deaths in a single day.
The toll could get worse as more hospitals fill up.
About 130,777 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized Saturday — the fifth-highest figure recorded, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the recent riot at the US Capitol would likely be a “surge event” that “will probably lead to a significant spreading” across the country.
“You had largely unmasked individuals in a non-distanced fashion, who were all through the Capitol,” Dr. Robert Redfield told the McClatchy newspaper group.
“Then these individuals all are going in cars and trains and planes going home all across the country right now.”

‘Our most dangerous time’

In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said his state was seeing a “real and significant increase in cases and our positivity rate from people’s gatherings around the holiday.”
“This surge that we’re in right now is at least twice the rate, the seriousness, of the previous surges that we have seen,” the governor said Friday. “This is our most dangerous time.”
Hospitalizations are climbing in Texas, where a record number of Covid-19 patients were reported for the seventh day in a row Saturday. At least 13,935 patients were hospitalized in the state, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
And California set two new records Saturday — the most deaths reported in one day, 695, and the most Covid-19 patients in intensive care units — 4,939.
“The speed with which we are reaching grim milestones of COVID-19 deaths and cases is a devastating reflection of the immense spread that is occurring across the county,” Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.
“The best way to protect ourselves, slow the spread, and stop overwhelming our hospitals, is to pause participating in any activities that aren’t absolutely essential,” she said.
“This is just not the time to go to the shopping mall or to a friend’s house to watch a basketball or football game.”

The transition of power begins

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The transition of power begins

Unfortunately, Wednesday was not at all peaceful. It looked a lot like too many Third World nations fraught with violence. It embarrassed our country. We used to take pride in being the shining example to the world for the way it can and should be done — peacefully. Yet all is not lost in my humble opinion.

Let me just say that I have been a proud Trump supporter. Proud of all that President Trump was able to accomplish in his four years in office. He took us away from the socialist trend that our nation has been on for a number of years.

We will have to wait and see how much this will swing back toward that direction again. We will have to wait and see what Mr. Trump will do and how he will move forward in his post-presidency.

I am not happy with the way he appears to have thrown VP Mike Pence, one of his most loyal supporters, “under the bus” for doing his constitutional duty.

Do I believe there was voter fraud? Yes, I do, but can I prove it? No, I cannot. I am informed by the media and books that I read.

We must be most vigilant during the next administration and especially so with both branches of Congress and the presidency of the same party. Our congressional leadership must work to contain the radical agenda of the left.

We as citizens must hold our congressional representatives’ feet to the fire, and we must work to support and elect down-ballot officeholders who will fight for our liberty.

I am optimistic that our nation will continue to survive and to thrive, not because of our new administration or the dominance of the Democrat Party in Congress. Our nation will carry on because of the Constitution that our Founding Fathers created if we remain vigilant.

We will remain strong because of the resilience and the ingenuity of the American people. A very wise man (my father) often told me when discouragement presented itself: “The sun will come up tomorrow.”

 

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