Congressman Gonzalez and Texas Democratic Delegation Urge Gov. Abbott to Prioritize Hardest Hit Areas for COVID-19 Vaccine
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) and Members of the Texas Democrat Congressional Delegation sent a letter to Governor Greg Abbott urging him to prioritize the hardest impacted groups and vulnerable populations to receive the vaccine.
"We in the 15th District of Texas have lost more than 2,269 lives to the novel coronavirus. The rollout of the vaccine at the federal and state level has been inadequate and inefficient. If we are going to be successful in beating this virus, we need to work together to streamline and improve the administration of vaccines. I urge Governor Abbott to prioritize vaccinating the hardest hit communities as soon as possible and I look forward to working with him on this."
The Members argue that the data reflects a direct correlation between income and health outcomes. Lower income communities tend to lack health insurance, have pre-existing conditions and are more susceptible to COVID-19 complications and infection.
In the letter the Members write to the Governor: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on low-income households. Hence, we urge you to include low-income individuals and households, including high risk minority groups, as priority populations as you consider guidelines for the allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The letter was signed by Reps. Al Green, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Lloyd Doggett, Sheila Jackson Lee, Henry Cuellar, Joaquin Castro, Filemon Vela, Colin Allred, Veronica Escobar, Lizzie Fletcher and Sylvia Garcia.
The full letter is available here.
###