Gov. Abbott, TDEM launch first week of 'Save Our Seniors' initiative in 26 counties

Governor Greg Abbott today announced that the Texas Division of Emergency (TDEM), the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), and the Texas Military Department (TMD) have announced 26 participating counties for the first week of their Save Our Seniors initiative.

The Governor announced the Save Our Seniors program in Corpus Christilast week to ensure more seniors are vaccinated throughout the state.

According to Governor Abbott, the state has allocated up to 8,000 vaccine doses for the first week of the program, which the state will use in partnership with local officials and service organizations to target Texans who are 75 years and older or homebound.

TDEM and TMD will work alongside local jurisdictions to set up a central drive-through vaccine clinic in the community or administer directly to homebound seniors. These decisions will be driven by local jurisdictions based on their most vulnerable identified individuals, according to the news release.

"The Save Our Seniors program will help us reach vulnerable homebound seniors across the state and provide them with live-saving COVID-19 vaccines," said Governor Abbott. "As more communities are identified and selected for the program, we will be able to get more shots in arms and further strengthen our response to this virus."

Counties participating in the first round of the program are Aransas, Bastrop, Brewster, Brooks, Brown, Cass, Dallas, Eastland, Freestone, Gray, Hill, Hockley, Hudspeth, Hutchinson, Irion, Lee, McCulloch, Medina, Morris, Panola, Rains, Refugio, Robertson, San Jacinto, Shelby, and Webb.

Counties and cities have been selected based on data provided from DSHS related to the following factors, in coordination with local and state partners:

1. The state targeted areas with ongoing high hospitalizations;
2. The state looked at the number of approved providers serving the area;
3. The state took into account areas who reported no more than approximately a third vaccinated for seniors;
4. The state took into account total allocations over the previous 12 weeks;
5. The state utilized data showing the least vaccinated counties for both 65+ and 75+ administered doses;
6. The state focused on allocating vaccine equitably across the state.