BRYAN, Texas — Brazos County is ready to administer vaccines at the Brazos Center Vaccination HUB next week. St. Joseph Health received 5,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine from the state Thursday.
"The news we got today by the pharmacist at St. Joseph was glorious news because it is actually here," said Jim Stewart, who is leading the Brazos County vaccination taskforce.
The Brazos Center will begin administering vaccinations Monday. The goal is for St. Joseph Health to administer 1,000 doses of the vaccine a day.
Stewart said in the beginning of the week he was pessimistic about getting the doses for next week. He was told the vaccines would not arrive in the county until late Tuesday morning. However, the news of the doses arriving Thursday has him feeling optimistic.
"It is working, the vaccine is coming, we're going to get it in your arm," Stewart said. "We just need people to be patient."
Stewart said the vaccination HUB has already had more than 30,000 people sign up to receive the vaccine. About 29,000 were people in group 1B, which is the group the HUB will work on getting vaccinated next week.
Brazos County vaccination taskforce asks for people to continue registering through St. Joseph Health's website.
Stewart has been able to visit the Brazos Center during this weeks dry-runs of the COVID-19 vaccination.
So far, more than 600 people have registered to volunteer through American Red Cross. Stewart is proud of how the center and volunteers are working to get the vaccination process done as quick and efficient as possible.
“In an hour and a half we're able to administer over 200 vaccines," Stewart said. "We’re very pleased with that.”
Stewart is in communication with the Texas Department of State Health Services. Their priority right now is getting doses to the vaccination HUB sites. Other vaccine providers like HEB or Kroger will get doses eventually, but not at the moment.
"Let the HUBs do the heavy lifting to try to get as much out as possible and eventually work it back into those other providers," Stewart explained.
Stewart hopes to ramp up the number of people vaccinated in a day. In the meantime, he just asks for everyone to stay patient.
St. Joseph Health tells KAGS News an announcement about the vaccine delivery will be made soon.
