


Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine now in San Antonio
Some 500 health care professionals will begin getting the vaccine, including school nurses, according to South Texas Allergy and Asthma Medical Professionals.
This story was originally published by Kens5 and can be found here.Copyright 2020 by Kens5 - All rights reserved.

STAAMP Allergy to administer 500 Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to health care workers
Moderna vaccine expected to be delivered this week
This story was originally published by KSAT12 and can be found here.SAN ANTONIO – South Texas Allergy and Asthma Medical Professionals, also known as STAAMP Allergy, will begin administering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to 500 health care professionals.
“We are working hard to meet the needs of the community. Our population has been hit hard by this pandemic and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and we have to trust in the scientists and health experts and take this crucial vaccine,” said Dr. Erika Gonzalez, CEO and Medical Director at STAAMP Allergy.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services selected STAAMP as an official COVID-19 vaccine administration site. The clinic is expected to receive the Moderna vaccine this week.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine’s emergency use authorization on Friday.
The vaccine will be administered in phases throughout the state of Texas, with health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities at the front of the line. The next phase will include high-risk patients.
STAAMP says it’s working with more than 20 local clinics and organizations to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers. It will also be administering it to San Antonio school nurses.
STAAMP is one of a handful of entities on the list to get a portion of the 30,000 doses of Moderna vaccines headed for Bexar County this week. You can see the full list of other sites getting the vaccine by clicking here.
Copyright 2020 by KSAT - All rights reserved.

COVID-19 fatigue showing in Bexar County
Texas MedClinic doctor says weddings and family dinners are behind cases he’s seeing
SAN ANTONIO – As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, local doctors say “COVID fatigue” is real as residents get sick, not of the coronavirus but of dealing with it.
“'You know, ‘I’ve had it up to here, and I’m not doing it anymore,’” said Texas MedClinic Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Gude, who said he has seen people going to more events they may have avoided earlier on in the pandemic.
While this past weekend saw supporters of both President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump gather across the country, including in South Texas, it’s not big events that are currently sending patients to Gude’s chain of urgent care clinics. Instead, he says, it’s events like family dinners and weddings.
“Last week, I was seeing several people who went to a wedding,” Gude said. “There were five people so far that had tested positive because the wedding had been put off in May, and they just didn’t want to have to put it off any longer. So they had the wedding, and now multiple people are ill.”
Despite instances like this, Bexar County case numbers remained relatively low until Monday since the large wave of cases this summer. Meanwhile, the U.S. as a whole, has been hitting record highs for new cases in the past week.
Dr. Erika Gonzalez, the president and CEO of South Texas Allergy and Asthma Medical Professionals, thinks the local infection rate may play a role in local perceptions.
“You know, luckily, we did see the rate of infection kind of steady here in San Antonio. So I think that that also made people kind of get a false sense of security that, 'Hey, you know what? Maybe this thing is over,” Gonzalez said.
Gude agreed that the relatively low stats might provide a false sense of security, and he does not believe the numbers would hold.
“I don’t think that it’s because we have a shield on,” Gude said, regarding Bexar County’s previously low case numbers. “I think it’s just that we live in an environment that we can be outside, and we can get our social milieu by being outside. But once we have to move indoors, I’m still concerned that we’re going to see significant spikes.”

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Friday at San Antonio CityFest
10 a.m.
San Antonio Report Senior Reporter Iris Dimmick speaks with Elizabeth Provencio, the City of San Antonio’s first assistant city attorney; Michael R. Smith, criminal justice professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Oji Martin, founder of Fix SAPD; and Mike Helle, president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, for a panel on “Policing in San Antonio.“11 a.m.
San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson” and The Foreign Arm come together for a lively poetic performance, followed by a conversation with San Antonio Report Arts and Culture Reporter Nicholas Frank on the inspiration behind their work.Noon
A panel on “Health Equity in South Texas” where city leaders and health professionals discuss the community’s joint effort to provide equitable access to health care. San Antonio Report Managing Editor Graham Watson-Ringo is joined by Dr. Somava Saha, Well Being In the Nation Network executive lead; Dr. Colleen Bridger, City of San Antonio assistant city manager; Dr. Erika Gonzalez, South Texas Allergy & Asthma Medical Professionals president and CEO; and Jaime Wesolowski, Methodist Healthcare Ministries president and CEO.2:30 p.m.
San Antonio Report Photo Editor Scott Ball and staff photographer Bonnie Arbittier will co-moderate “Photojournalism During a Public Health Crisis” – a discussion with Bria Woods, executive producer at KAVU-TV in Victoria, and photographer Chris Lee about how the pandemic has prompted new ways of documenting current events.3:30 p.m.
For the final event of San Antonio CityFest, San Antonio Report Editor and Publisher Robert Rivard moderates a conversation with city leaders in “Future of the City.” Panelists include Brian Dillard, City of San Antonio chief innovation officer; John Burnam, Burnam | Gray co-founder and principal; Ximena Alvarez, U.S. Census Bureau media specialist; Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, San Antonio Economic Development Foundation president and chief executive officer; and Alex Birnel, MOVE Texas advocacy manager. The full schedule is available here.
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