COVID-19 vaccine to begin arriving in East Texas as early as Tuesday

EAST TEXAS — Several hospitals in East Texas will be among the first in Texas to get doses of the much anticipated COVID-19 vaccine, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. According to our news partner KETK, the first week’s allocation is 224,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be shipped to 109 hospitals in 34 counties during the week of Dec. 14. “As expected, the initial vaccine supply is limited, and the first week’s allocation is based on information submitted by vaccine providers when they enrolled, including the number of health care workers who can be quickly vaccinated and vaccine storage capacity at each site,” the announcement said. The minimum order for the Pfizer vaccine is 975 doses. More vaccine will be available for more providers in the following weeks, including vaccine from Moderna once it is authorized, the announcement said. The vaccine will be arriving at some of the hospitals, including UT Health Science Center, as early as Tuesday.

Hospitals in the region and the number of doses they are to receive are:

Smith County:

CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital, in Tyler, is reported to get 975 doses.
UT Health-Tyler is reported to get 3,900 doses.

Gregg County:

CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview is reported to get 975 doses.
Longview Medical Center, L.P. is reported to get 975 doses.