COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Texas Threatened to Axe Dallas COVID Vaccine Supply Over Plan to Prioritize Minority Communities

Dallas County pulled its plan to target vulnerable communities in response.

The Texas state government threatened to slash Dallas’ coronavirus vaccine supply if the county went ahead with a plan to prioritize delivering doses to poor communities of color and vulnerable areas. Dallas County commissioners had voted to make establishing vaccine distribution hubs in 11 primarily Black and Latino south Dallas zip codes a priority, but an associate commissioner with the Texas Department of State Health Services wrote in a letter, “While we ask hub providers to ensure vaccine reaches the hardest hit areas and populations, solely vaccinating people who live in those areas is not in line with the agreement to be a hub provider.” COVID-19 has infected and killed a disproportionate number of Black and Latino people, who are statistically more likely to be essential workers, but data have shown that the white, wealthy communities are receiving a higher per capita number of doses and injection centers.