AUSTIN, Texas — As more people get vaccinated in Central Texas and eligibility expands for some providers, the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine remains high.
On Monday night at 6 p.m., Austin Public Health (APH) released 7,500 appointments for those in phases 1A, 1B, 1C, child care providers, educators and all individuals 40 years old and older.
By 8 p.m., there were 3,300 appointments available with nearly 7,000 people in the waiting room. By 10 p.m., APH announced that all the appointments had been filled.
Earlier in the evening, several people on social media reported a technical issue, which APH addressed on Twitter, saying, "If you encountered the 'Unhandled Fault' error, please try to schedule an appointment now. The issue should be resolved."
For a list of where you could sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in Central Texas, click here.
Elsewhere, like in southeast Travis County, cars continue to file into the Circuit of the Americas on the weekends for the by-appointment-only operation where the County and CommUnityCare are working to vaccinate thousands of people.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown told KVUE Monday that he sees the operation becoming a more regular thing on weekends for the future.
"My hope is that we can figure out a way to open it up to where people don't have to make appointments anymore. And I think we're closer and closer to that each week," Brown said. "But, yes, I think we're going to try to keep going full capacity at Circuit of the Americas, try to expand the number of days that we're giving out vaccines there. But also equally important is trying to, to build up local clinics that have good ties to the local community."
He added that the County is also working with other partners to build capacity in other locations, like in Manor.
Overall, Brown said one goal is to eventually open up the operation to the point where people won't be required to make appointments online anymore.
"I would like to move to a model where we aren't doing the appointments online because I think that it just, it makes it more difficult for everyone. And I think, frankly, that also makes the digital divide even worse. So people who maybe don't have access or as easy of access to the internet are then dissuaded from coming. And we want to take that barrier away as soon as possible," Brown said.
"And I do think as we get more and more vaccines – and it does seem like we are in the time now when the State is giving more and more vaccines to everyone – I think that's an opportunity to try to move to a point where we don't make people register ahead of time," Brown continued. "The difficult part there is that there are still a lot of forms that the State requires us to fill out. And so, it's really sort of like a software question. How can we do that really quickly when people walk up or drive up instead of having them do it ahead of time?"
In a statement sent to KVUE, Vanessa Fuentes – the Austin City Council member for District 2, which primarily covers southeast Austin – spoke about online appointment issues and disparities of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Fuentes said:
“Vaccine distribution has been anything but equitable. Though the supply has been low, communities most at-risk were not prioritized to receive the life-saving shots that were available. Barriers such as the digital divide have proven to be major hurdles in the vaccine appointment process, whether for seniors or those lacking the time to refresh a webpage. I am hopeful with the increase of vaccine doses that our vulnerable populations will receive their fair share of allotment, but I continue to pursue solutions and move forward with the painful reminder that half of all COVID-19-related deaths in Austin-Travis County have been from Latinos, yet only 22% have received a shot administered by Austin Public Health.”
On March 25, a resolution that Fuentes authored was unanimously approved. Among other things, it directs the city manager to address the impact of COVID-19 by identifying funding to prioritize mobile testing and vaccination programs.
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