Latest Contributions

• Keep wearing your mask, health officials say after Gov. Greg Abbott lifts mask mandate

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: March 2, 2021

  Some variants of COVID-19 are more contagious and researchers believe they can reinfect people who already have gotten the virus. Doctors and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend wearing masks. Full Story 

• Texas National Guard deployed to get COVID-19 vaccines to older Texans who are homebound

  by Karen Brooks Harper Feb. 25, 2021

  Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants the majority of Texans who are 65 and older to be inoculated against COVID-19 by the end of March. He said the state could announce more eligibility for the vaccines next month. Full Story 

• Texas’ COVID-19 vaccinations begin to rebound after plunging during last week’s winter storm

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Feb. 23, 2021

  Texas expects to see about 1.5 million doses arrive this week, including last week’s undelivered doses, and the opening of three new federally supported vaccination hubs. Full Story 

• “An emergency on top of a pandemic”: Texas hospital workers scramble as winter storm hampered operations

  by Karen Brooks Harper Feb. 18, 2021

  Water disruptions, patient logjams, overflowing emergency rooms, exhausted workers, staffing shortages and power outages created challenging conditions for health care workers across the state. Full Story 

• “Please help us, please”: More than 100 older and disabled Texans were stranded without power in Austin high-rise

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Montinique Monroe Feb. 17, 2021

  Firefighters helped staff evacuate residents who wanted to go to shelters after more than two days of frigid temperatures and dwindling food supplies. Full Story 

• Hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccine deliveries, injections delayed by winter storm

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Feb. 16, 2021

  Vaccine events and appointments across Texas were shut down when snow and ice made travel too dangerous, brought power outages and delayed vaccine deliveries. Full Story 

• Texas launches multimillion dollar campaign to combat vaccine hesitancy

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Marissa Martinez Feb. 12, 2021

  Local governments and advocacy groups are targeting skeptical communities early, but the state is holding back a large media blitz until more vaccine arrives. Full Story 

• Three FEMA-run vaccination sites aimed at underserved Texans to open later this month, Abbott says

  by Karen Brooks Harper Feb. 10, 2021

  Combined, the three sites are expected to administer more than 10,000 shots per day, with doses supplied by FEMA. Full Story 

• Older and disabled Texans are demanding their home caregivers be vaccinated for COVID-19. But many workers don’t want it.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Feb. 8, 2021

  Home health workers, most of whom are women of color, could start losing their jobs if they aren't vaccinated against COVID-19. Experts widely agree that the vaccine is safe — Pfizer and Moderna both reported their vaccines are more than 90% effective at protecting people from serious illness — but some still refuse to get a shot. Full Story 

• Progress in the fight against the coronavirus is coming, but Texas is a long way from herd immunity

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Anna Canizales Feb. 1, 2021

  Medical experts say the state will struggle to immunize enough Texans to halt the chain of transmission through vaccination. But they hope to soon see evidence that vaccination efforts are helping to take pressure off the health care system. Full Story 

• Texas has a problem with its COVID-19 vaccination data, and the stakes are high. Now the state is scrambling to solve it.

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Shannon Najmabadi Jan. 20, 2021

  As the state began the massive undertaking of distributing the coronavirus vaccine, early data problems left state officials with immunization records that were outdated, incomplete and sometimes misleading. Full Story 

• Texas has administered most of its 1.7 million vaccine doses as it prepares to receive 333,000 more

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Jan. 19, 2021

  Some 78% of the 1,725,575 doses already shipped to providers have been used, including second doses, Gov. Greg Abbott said, and Texas is set to receive 333,650 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Full Story 

• Texas lawmakers aren’t all eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Austin’s top health official is trying to get them vaccinated anyway.

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Cassandra Pollock Updated: Jan. 15, 2021

  Dr. Mark Escott, the interim medical director for Austin Public Health, told The Texas Tribune that he asked Ascension Seton hospital system “if they would be willing to vaccinate lawmakers and key staff if they had availability.” Full Story 

• After a rocky start, Gov. Greg Abbott promises to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations across Texas

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 11, 2021

  Twenty-eight coronavirus vaccination hubs will receive most of the state's next shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week, with 158,825 doses shipping to providers able to manage large-scale efforts as more doses arrive in the state. Full Story 

• Four years ago, Texas Republicans were the most likely to use mail-in voting. Here’s how that flipped in the last election.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 11, 2021

  Absentee ballots, which only certain groups of Texans are eligible to use, have traditionally been a tool utilized by the GOP, and in 2016, higher percentages of Republican voters cast absentee ballots than did Democratic voters. Full Story 

• More than two dozen of Texas’ rural hospitals haven’t received any COVID-19 vaccines

  by Karen Brooks Harper Updated: Jan. 8, 2021

  Those lucky enough to be near another provider with shots available are relying on neighborly generosity — encouraged but not mandated by the state — to innoculate front-line workers while they wait. Full Story 

• About 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses will be shipped next week to Texas, mostly for large “vaccination hubs”

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 7, 2021

  Some doses will also go to smaller providers, while hubs will set up registration phone numbers and websites to streamline distribution, according to the state health agency. Full Story 

• More vaccines on the way to Texas this week as the state's COVID-19 situation worsens

  by Karen Brooks Harper Jan. 4, 2021

  COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas are at record levels, while just under half of the vaccine doses shipped to Texans have been given out, according to state numbers. Full Story 

• “We are fighting back”: Texas health care workers receiving vaccines look forward to the end of a tragic year

  by Karen Brooks Harper and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff Dec. 24, 2020

  The arrival of the vaccine signaled an emergence from what countless health care workers called the darkest time in their careers. Full Story 

• Some Texans are hesitant to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Here's how health officials are countering skepticism.

  by Karen Brooks Harper Dec. 23, 2020

  “Vaccine hesitancy” or “vaccine skepticism” remains a huge challenge for health authorities trying to overcome mistrust by communities of color, the anti-vaxxer crowd and general dubiousness on the part of a traumatized nation. Full Story