WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — Williamson County's COVID-19 vaccination waitlist is shrinking, so the county is calling on anyone who qualifies in neighboring counties to get on its waitlist.
With three drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination sites and two providers, Williamson County managed to drop its COVID-19 vaccination waitlist from about 200,000 to about 4,000, which it plans to knock out next week.
"Monday, we really encouraged people that were on 1C to get on our waitlist, and within a few days they were already getting appointments," said Williamson County Public Affairs Manager Connie Odom. "So we've been able to vaccinate people in the 1C group this week."
Odom said with the waitlist shrinking, Williamson County is inviting people in neighboring counties in groups 1A through 1C, along with child care and school employees, to sign up on the waitlist to get vaccinated.
Once you do that, the vaccination process is simple.
"The providers send out an email inviting them with a unique code to register for an appointment," said Odom.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, a little over 25% of the 16 and older population in Williamson County have received at least the first dose of the vaccine. That's right in line with other counties in our area and the state average.
Williamson County has been able to do that with fewer doses allocated per capita than Travis County and the state average.
Odom said the county's partnered providers, Family Hospital Systems and Curative, aren't single-handedly doing it.
"As we sent out invitations, we found that people would reply back that they did not need the vaccine," said Odom. "They'd already received it somewhere else, and so the list came down fairly quickly towards the end."
That's a capability that Austin Public Health said it hopes to have next week, so its almost 300,000-person-long list can shrink down as well.
Williams Country's three drive-thru vaccination sites are at Dell Diamond, Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex and GISD Athletic Complex.
These sites are appointment only.
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