BRAZOS VALLEY, TX — The Texas Department of State and Health Services announced all adults will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine beginning on Monday, March 29, but seems like the Brazos county vaccine hub was already one step ahead of the game.
Timothy Callaghan, an assistant professor over at Texas A&M for the School of Public Health, led a survey that sampled various questions among 5,000 Americans. According to the published studies conducted, the data shows a consistent pattern in the groups of people who are hesitant to become vaccinated.
”It really depends on which group you’re talking about, but there are several groups that are hesitant to vaccinate, which could be impacting vaccine hesitancy rate and willingness to vaccinate in Texas and the Brazos county in particular,” Callaghan shared with 25 News.
Each population subgroup has a different reason why they rather not get vaccinated. But misinformation still plays a big role in hesitancy.
“Yeah, I certainly think misinformation does play a role in why certain individuals are unwilling to vaccinate," said Callaghan. "In the modern world with social media, between Facebook and Twitter and a variety of other mechanisms, it’s easier than ever to run into misinformation.”
The Brazos County Vaccination Hubopened on January 28. Chief Stewart shared that during this time, the individuals in phase 1a and 1b were probably the most passionate to receive their vaccine.
”When we first opened up, there was plenty of demand and anytime that we had vaccine allocations available to us people signed up for it no challenges whatsoever,” said Jim Stewart, Chief of Brazos County Vaccination Hub Task Force.
This past week, the hub calculated 12 percent of no shows for both first and second doses.
“But over the last two weeks, there’s been a couple of things that I've noticed, one is that our no-shows have been steadily creeping up,” said Chief Stewart.
Chief Stewart believes he doesn’t see the same amount of urgency as he once did. So he decided to ask for permission to open the hub to the general public. Afterone evening of doing so, they were able to fill about one thousand open appointments in just 25 minutes.
The Brazos Center is staying one step ahead of the game this week as well. Beginning this Friday, the vaccine hub will allow all individuals 18 years and older to sign up for their vaccine.
The vaccine hub has also expanded its efforts by adding mini-vaccine hubs to the mix. Community volunteers like College Station Fire Department have partnered with the vaccine hub to administer vaccines and meet residents in their neighborhoods.
According to the CDC, a little over 6 million Texans have received at least one dose of the vaccine so far.
To learn how to sign up for a vaccine the Brazos Hub using their brand new website, click here!