El Paso health department works on plan to administer Covid vaccine boosters
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso's health department director, Angela Mora, said the city is working on a plan to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots, as more cases of the highly-contagious Delta Variant are identified.
Mora said the health department is waiting on getting more guidance from the Texas Department of State Health Services before announcing how the booster-shot rollout will work. Mora said the rollout will happen "soon" but did not specify a date.
Mora said those who were fully vaccinated six months ago will be eligible for a third dose, with the exception of Johnson & Johnson recipients. That's because the J&J booster shot has not been authorized yet by federal regulators.
El Paso currently has 128 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, the most since early May. El Paso's health authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza said approximately 8 out 10 patients are unvaccinated.
Mora also added that people who take at-home Covid-19 tests need to alert the health department of any positive results. They're asked to take a photo of the positive test results along with the person's name, date of birth and contact information, and send it to EPIReporting@elpasotexas.gov.
Mora said at-home tests are reliable, but noted that PCR nasal swab tests (the one's offered by the city at its various testing locations) are the "gold standard."
A spokeswoman for the City of El Paso also noted that as of Wednesday, no one in the community had been cited for not following the indoor mask mandate that went into effect on Aug. 18.
