Williamson County Prepares For Coronavirus Vaccine Availability

AUSTIN, TX — With a vaccine for treatment of the coronavirus now on the horizon, Williamson County health district officials are urging medical sites to enroll as a provider of such inoculations ahead of time to ensure wide access to residents.

The Williamson County and Cities Health District's Immunization Advocacy Program on Friday invited medical facilities, pharmacies, organizations or health care providers licenses to possess and/or administer vaccine or provide related services to consider enrolling as a COVID-19 vaccine provider.

The move comes as coronavirus vaccine planning currently occurs at federal, state and local levels of government. The county health district's planning efforts are aligned with both the Vaccine Playbook of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the related Texas Vaccine Distribution Plan.

County officials explained that the state plan is based around leveraging the private/public provider network to ensure broad coverage and sustainability, through four phases of priority and vaccine availability: Planning Phase (current - until a vaccine is approved), Phase 1 (may be a limited number of doses available to allocate to providers who will be able to reach critical populations at highest risk such as health care workers), Phase 2 (supply is adequate and community-based providers will play a key role), and Phase 3 (routine administration is widely available).

While a coronavirus vaccine is yet unavailable, multiple candidate COVID-19 vaccines are currently in trial phases II or III at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Exact timelines are not known at this time, officials noted.

“We want all Williamson County residents to have access to a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them,” Immunization Advocacy Director Dr. Caroline Hilbert said in a prepared statement. “This enrollment tool will help us partner with organizations, integrate vaccinations into our statewide COVID-19 response, and ensure that once a vaccine is approved, we can efficiently distribute it across the county.”

The first step to becoming a COVID-19 vaccine provider is registering through the Immunization Program portal. Only providers registered through this site can receive and administer COVID-19 vaccine in Texas, county health district officials said. Enrolled vaccination providers will get COVID-19 vaccines from the Texas immunization program. Vaccines will not be available for purchase, officials noted.

For questions about registration, call the DSHS COVID-19 Vaccine Provider hotline at 877-835-7750, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday or email COVID19VacEnroll@dshs.texas.gov.