NUECES COUNTY, Texas — “If you're a provider, a medical physician, licensed in the state of Texas, i would love to ask you to sign up as a provider for COVID-19 vaccine.”
Annette Rodriguez is asking for help with the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine distribution. As director of the city-county health department here in Corpus Christi, Rodriguez is at the forefront of the fight against the virus in the Coastal Bend.
“Public health, while we can do a lot of it, and the hospitals can do a lot, but we want to do it quicker here in our community,” said Rodriguez. “We want more people vaccinated sooner, so we have more protection for our community. We want our citizens to be protected from getting COVID-19.”
Just this week, Governor Greg Abbott issued a plan for the distribution of the vaccines, with health care workers, first responders and others who work with vulnerable populations being the first to receive their doses. Once that's done, it will be the public's turn.
Rodriguez is confident that the rollout will run smoothly because production on doses has already begun.
“In H1H1, during swine flu, they were not making the vaccine at the same time as they were running the clinical trial phase 3. This time they have done that, which will help us see more vaccine rollout faster,” said Rodriguez.
The vaccine must be delivered in two doses with a waiting period in between, so the more people who are registered as providers, the more efficiently the process will run.
“We're trying to make it as easy for the citizens as possible to get those two doses required so they can get that protection against COVID-19,” said Rodriguez.
Licensed medical professionals wishing to sign up to receive and administer the vaccine can click here..