Vaccination progress after Texas’ eligibility extension | News | dailytoreador.com – The Daily Toreador

With Texas opening COVID-19 vaccination opportunities to all adults 16 and older, most people are now eligible to receive a vaccine dose. The City of Lubbock continues to host COVID-19 vaccine clinics at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center every week to make sure they meet the demands of citizens.

Katherine Wells, director of the Lubbock Public Health Department, said that with President Joe Biden pushing for all states to open up vaccination options for everyone, it is understandable how the eligibility suddenly got extended.

Here in Lubbock, we have already seen a decrease in the number of people seeking vaccines, Wells said. So, I had advocated with the state to open up soon, so we dont lose momentum with the number of people getting vaccinated.

Lubbock receives five thousand doses of vaccination a week, Wells said prior to the extension of eligibility. It was very hard to get people to make an appointment in order to reach all five thousand. For the week beginning from March 29, however, there is a significant change in the number of people registering for the vaccination.

Weve seen a bit of a bump this week, with more people seeking vaccines than before, Wells said.

Madeline Geeslin, a Health Promotion supervisor at the Civic Center, Lubbocks main COVID-19 vaccination clinic location, said they have seen a rise in the number of people from the age of 18 to 30 registering for a vaccination after the eligibility extension.

We have seen a lot of people looking like college students, which is great to see that they are taking advantage of it, Geeslin said. You never know if these people will make these decisions on their own, and this might be one of the first healthcare decisions that they made without their parents. We are glad to see a lot of students taking that initiative and making a step to protect their health.

There has not been any vaccine shortage recorded after the eligibility extension. In addition, there is also no problem with the vaccine storage. Geeslin said that they have a storage where vaccines are kept in the Civic Center.

Every morning, we bring vaccines here from the Health Department, Geeslin said, and it is kept until the end of clinic. The vaccines will be moved back to the Health Department later that day.

As the number of people taking vaccination rises, the amount of people susceptible to COVID-19 also drops. Geeslin said no vaccine is 100 percent effective, so people should still follow precautions like wearing masks and keeping personal hygiene to prevent contracting the virus.

Our vaccination rate is pretty high compared to the rest of the state, Geeslin said. We are about 35 percent of adults vaccinated, which is not bad, but in order to reach the herd immunity level, we really need to be at 65 or 70 percent.

The coronavirus pandemic is not over yet; cases are still rising and new variants have been found in Lubbock. Geeslin said they encourage everyone to take the vaccine because it takes everyone to help Lubbock move on from COVID-19.

The Public Health Department representatives said vaccination is highly encouraged and people should take the vaccine whenever it is available to them. People who wish to get vaccinated can call the Public Health department number or go online to the City of Lubbocks webpage to make an appointment.

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Vaccination progress after Texas' eligibility extension | News | dailytoreador.com - The Daily Toreador