BELL COUNTY, Texas — State allocations of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Central Texas were cut significantly last week, and the new allocation list for this week doesn't list any vaccine for many local counties pharmacies. Some locations may get vaccine though the federal allocations, but those numbers are still not available.
The good news, the Texas Department of State Health Services just recently rolled out its Texas Public Health Vaccine Scheduler. This website will allow users to create a profile that includes their contact information, demographic details, and their preferred days for an appointment. The site will then continually search for the next available appointment within their home county and preferred times.
People with limited access to the internet can call 1-833-832-7067 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week to enroll in the scheduler. People can also use that number get more information about appointments or change their information.
Not every county will have a participating health department, but Bell County has both a health department designated as a vaccine hub by the state and a DSHS regional office that receives vaccine doses.
The state vaccine scheduler will also keep track of where people are signing up for vaccines and can help DSHS created events based on local demand.
Local hospitals are still providing vaccine doses at this time and Baylor Scott and White received an increased allocation this coming week for a total of over 3000 doses. You can find a list of hospital contact information here.
Bell County also entered into an agreement with a company named Curative to operate large-scale vaccination sites across Bell County. The company will begin by opening a site in Killeen on April 20, according to Bell County spokesman James Stafford.
Information on how people may sign up for the Curative event has not yet been released by the county.