AUSTIN, Texas — Travis County held a large-scale, drive-thru event to offer the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 638 people on Saturday, Feb. 6.
The event followed a similar one from four weeks ago, where Travis County offered the first dose of the vaccine to the same people.
The vaccine was available to individuals contacted by Travis County, including CommUnityCare patients, school district staff and Capital Metro employees. A spokesperson for Travis County said everyone who received the vaccine fell in group 1B, meaning most were 65 years old or older.
"We have a long way to go, we need everybody to be patient," Mayor Steve Adler said at the event. "But I promise everybody, as soon as we get the supply, we’re getting it into people’s arms."
Adler said officials are planning to hold more large-scale vaccination events in Travis County in the future, but that largely depends on the supply of vaccines the county receives.
"We wish we were seeing a lot more supply," Adler said. "We have a lot of people in our community who are ready to get the vaccine, want the vaccine. Frankly, I think that effort needed to [get] started 12 months ago in terms of acquiring the supply and having a greater national response."
Adler said the goal is to increase the capacity of how many people are served at these sites in the future.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown said Saturday that the county appropriated about $200,000 on Tuesday to hire former election workers to staff a call center with Austin Public Health. Those employees will be responsible for contacting elderly citizens to help them sign up online to get the shot.
"They’re bilingual, and they’re going to start reaching out, I think on Monday, to people who are 80 years and older to help get them signed up both on the website and for actual appointments," Brown said. "And then as we work through that, I think the age would go down. But yes, we’re making efforts to make it easier to register even if you can’t get on the website.”
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