NUECES COUNTY, Texas — There’s word that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by November. New guidelines have apparently already been laid out on who’s going to get it and who won’t be able to get the vaccine.
The World Health Organization says right now, there are over 169 COVID-19 vaccine candidates under development and 26 of those are in the human trial phase.
Annette Rodriguez with the Nueces County Health Department said she has heard that at least one of those vaccines could be ready sometime in November.
She said she’s also heard who’s in line to get a vaccine and who won’t be getting one.
“What I did learn is that when we get a vaccine, it will not include children and I didn’t know that," Rodriguez said. "I thought it was gonna be like H1N1 when we got the vaccine. It was for everybody."
Hearing this, we asked Rodriguez where that information had come from that only people over the age of 18 will get one of those vaccines.
"CDC communicating with the Texas Department of State Health Services, communicating to the locals, you know, so we are kind of starting our preparation for if we receive vaccines, you know, how it’s going to work this time; how it’s going to look a little different than it did from H1N1," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also told us that so far, there have been 56 COVID-19 cases in our local school district, but most of those positive tests came from students who were at home in virtual learning classes.
There have been about 10 of those students who have tested positive who were learning face-to-face.
That was concerning for Dr. Nancy Vera, who is the president of our local American Federation of Teacher's Union. She’s also worried about what she sees on social media, where she points to several examples of teachers and students not practicing social distancing.
"If you look at pictures of teachers on Facebook that you’ll see that social distancing is not being adhered to the CDC guidelines are being violated," Dr. Vera said.
"You see the students in the hallway; you see them in the classrooms. You see teachers around the students. You see students taking pictures with each other. There’s no social distancing.”
The big Halloween holiday is coming up soon, too. Rodríguez said people should not go trick-or-treating unless it’s at one of their family members homes.
She feels that with flu season coming up, everyone needs to continue to practice social distancing and wearing a mask so that our COVID-19 numbers don’t spike again.