It’s time for the week that was in Texas politics with Karen Brooks Harper, health and human services reporter for The Texas Tribune.
Last week’s winter storm cut the number of vaccines given to Texans.
“We were delayed about 450,000 doses that were supposed to arrive that didn’t because of the storm,” Brooks Harper said. “They are here now, along with almost a million more doses for first and second doses.”
National Guard members are deploying to either identify seniors who are unable to leave home to get a vaccine or provide vaccinations.
“They’re going to be concentrating in rural areas, isolated areas,” Brooks Harper said. “It’s modeled after local programs such as one in Corpus Christi called the Save Our Seniors program.”
Brooks Harper says several factors, including a change in federal leadership, led to the slow rollout of the in-home vaccine program.
The governor has teased an announcement related to COVID-19 restrictions in Texas. Brooks Harper says that as hospitalizations and case rates go down, it’s likely that mask mandates will be eased.
“Greg Abbott is considering at this point when to drop the statewide mask mandate,” she said. “He’s not committed to a date.”
