Is Texas getting shorted vaccine doses by the federal government?
HOUSTON - Is the state of Texas getting shortchanged its fair share of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government?
Well-known Houston community leader Bill King says that's exactly what's happening.
"New York has gotten a third more than we've gotten. Florida is about a quarter more. California has gotten about a quarter more. It just doesn't make any sense," said King.
King says numbers released by the CDC show Texas ranks 48th nationally when it comes to the number of vaccine doses received per capita, despite the fact that our state is still among the leaders in total hospitalizations.
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"I've been making calls to Congressional offices all day today and none of them were even aware of this. Maybe if they would stop playing all their partisan games up there and actually concentrate on saving some people's lives, maybe we get some more vaccines here in Texas," said King.
FOX 26 reached out to congressional leaders for their reactions.
"Based on the information from the CDC that has been shared with us, it seems that the people of Texas have been shortchanged in the vaccine distribution process. Texas is the second-most populous state in our nation and continues to combat a growing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, yet Texas has ranked 48th in per capita distribution of the vaccine. It will be imperative that the Biden administration is able to bring the necessary equity for an effective vaccine distribution process to states that the Trump administration has failed to provide," said Rep. Al Green.
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A spokesperson for Rep. Dan Crenshaw said the Congressman is "working to get to the bottom" of the discrepancy.