City of Plano working with Collin County, neighboring cities to distribute COVID-19 vaccines

PLANO, TX – The city of Plano announced Jan. 8 that it has joined a partnership with Collin County and neighboring cities to assist in getting vaccines to Plano residents.

The county announced the launch of a partnership with several cities Jan. 6 in which they will pool local resources to assist with vaccine registration and distribution. This includes the utilization of the online vaccine registration website launched Jan. 5, a county release said. The wait list is available to all residents of Collin County, not just those of cities directly involved in the partnership, the county confirmed in a recorded message the next day.

The city of Plano announced its intention to actively work with the county and other cities to assist in getting vaccines to residents in a Jan. 6 statement before announcing its part in the Collin County partnership Jan. 8. As more details about how the state would like to see vaccines distributed are released, the city will follow accordingly, city of Plano spokesperson Steve Stoler said.

“We will do whatever we can to make sure everyone who wants a vaccine can receive one,” Stoler said.

The city of Plano has also volunteered to be a point of distribution for the vaccine, but it has not received approval from the state of Texas, per the city’s statement. Currently, the city does not have any vaccines to distribute.

The city of Plano received an initial shipment of 500 vaccines for its emergency and public safety staff. All doses had been administered as of Jan. 4, although there were not enough doses to vaccinate all public safety personnel, as previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper. The city is waiting to hear when it might receive another shipment to finish vaccinating its first responders, Stoler said.

Due to the limited number of vaccines available, Plano residents should look into other available resources for receiving a vaccine, including through government distribution and private medical providers such as pharmacies, hospitals and doctors, a city statement said.

As of the morning of Jan. 6, more than 45,000 Collin County residents have registered for the county’s waitlist, an update from Collin County Judge Chris Hill said.

The county received 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine Dec. 28, all of which had been administered as of Jan. 6. The county has not received word of when another shipment may arrive, the update said.