Mason County has started to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. If you are interested in having your name added to a waiting list, please call our office (325-347-5556) or email us (county.judges.asst@co.mason.tx.us) with this information: Name, Phone Number, Date of Birth, County of Residence, and a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to underlying/current health conditions. -Judge Bearden
Mason County is currently waiting for vaccines. If you have called or emailed to put your name on the list, you will be notified by Frontera Clinic to schedule an appointment as doses are available. Please be patient and know that the clinic and the county are doing everything possible to secure an adequate amount of vaccine for our citizens. - Judge Bearden
Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout
There have been a number of challenges with vaccine rollout in Texas. We are disappointed with the number of doses allocated in many rural areas in Texas.
This week, DSHS is implementing a Vaccine Hub plan that is intended to funnel the lion's share of vaccines to "hubs" across Texas. They prioritize the location of these hubs to areas that can distribute the vaccine to the highest number of their current target groups - that being 1A and 1B. These target groups were implemented by the Expert Vaccine Distribution Panel. The first target group (1A) is composed of healthcare providers and others who are actively treating COVID patients and long-term care residents. The 1B group include:
- People 65 years of age and older
- People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
- Solid organ transplantation
- Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Please refer https://www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine.aspx for more vaccine information.
The amount of vaccine allocated largely depends on how much can be produced per manufacturer. There just has not been the number of vaccines produced at this moment that is needed across the state. On top of the slowness in vaccine supply, the current focus of distribution is to areas that can physically vaccinate the highest number of people. This essentially means that we will probably see a lower number of allocated vaccines in our area next week and that they will largely be sent to providers who can vaccinate more then 100,000 people.
We have some inherent issues facing rural communities: lack of clinic and approved vaccine providers (state can only allocate to approved providers), lack of extremely dense population centers, inability for many of our over 65 to travel far distances independently, etc. These factors have inhibited the prioritization of rural areas.
We want to encourage constituents who do fall into the 1B group to make sure they contact a vaccine provider or one of the hubs being announced on Sunday and request a vaccination. Even if a local provider cannot fulfill that request at the time, they are implementing wait lists for when it does become available.
At this time, Mason County has over 800 people on the waiting list for the vaccine. As the vaccine is received and made available, Frontera Clinic will call to schedule appointments. To be added to the waiting list, please call the County Judge’s Office at 325-347-5556 or email county.judges.asst@co.mason.tx.us.
- Mason County Judge Jerry Bearden
Click on these links for excellent suggestions on how to cope with Covid-19:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/visitors.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/essential-goods-services.html