Austin police officers are among a group of first responders receiving COVID-19 vaccines this week through the Austin Public Safety Wellness Facility, city officials said.
Officers, along with medics and fire personnel, will receive a Moderna vaccine at the facility, city spokesman Bryce Bencivengo said. The majority of the 1,300 vaccine doses the facility received from the state will be given out this week, he said.
Before this week, medics and fire officials were able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine through University of Texas Dell Medical School as early as Dec. 19. Health care workers can also get a vaccine through places like an H-E-B pharmacy, Bencivengo said.
City of Austin public safety employees receive COVID-19 vaccine
By FOX 7 Austin Digital Team
Published
Photo courtesy City of Austin.
AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Public Safety Wellness Center began providing COVID-19 vaccines to public safety employees on December 28.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) provided a specific allocation for public safety personnel through the Public Safety Wellness Center. The Public Safety Wellness Center is a closed vaccine POD, meaning it will only serve local public safety personnel.
The Wellness Center received 1,300 doses of vaccine in the DSHS Week 2 allocation, and will continue to operate until all public safety personnel who wish to be vaccinated receive the second dose of their vaccine. According to DSHS, it will not receive any doses of the vaccine in Week 3.
women s art project
Austin artist Sarah Wilson, with the Dougherty Arts Center and Austin s Museums & Cultural Programs, is putting out a call to nominate front-line women workers for a public art portrait project that will debut in spring 2021.
“Essentials” will feature larger-than-life, black-and-white portraits of essential women workers on buildings and walls in a citywide public art exhibition. Wilson is calling for Austin-area residents to nominate the essential women workers in their lives to celebrate the work they do in keeping the community safe and strong.
The call for nomination is open through Jan. 15.
AUSTIN
awards grants
Texas Mutual Insurance has awarded $475,000 in grant funding to Austin organizations as part of its $2,875,000 commitment to Texas workforce development initiatives.
Ken and Vera Brooks have been married for 43 years, but Dec. 10 marked just the second time in their marriage they picked up a box of groceries at the Travis County Exposition Center, the nearest Central Texas Food Bank distribution site to their home. We re both retired and with the way the economy is rent and everything kind of high we come here for food, Vera Brooks said. It helps a lot.
They went through an intake process before weaving through the parking lot toward masked volunteers who placed a cardboard box labeled disaster relief into their trunk.
The Brooks box included milk, potatoes, onions, spaghetti sauce, fresh produce and other canned goods that would get them through the month.
Austin-Travis County health officials on Tuesday reported more than 600 new coronavirus cases almost 200 more cases than the previous day s total and the largest single-day increase in the area since mid-July.
Local health authorities reported 613 people tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total case count in the area to 43,469. The figure marks the highest number of new cases detected in a single-day in the Austin-Travis County area since July 13, when officials reported 657 cases.
The record for the most number of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day was set on July 8, when county health authorities said 753 people tested positive for the virus.