HOUSTON — Texas may be fully open but the number of COVID-19 shots going into arms is still lagging and vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez says that's a serious problem.
"I am worried for the state of Texas," Hotez said. "If we're going to make that commitment to loosen mask restrictions, then we absolutely owe it to Texas to be in the top tier of states with vaccinations."
Right now, Texas is nearly last, ranking 45 out of 50 states. Only 11 percent of Texans have been fully vaccinated thus far.
"We never fully recovered from that power grid collapse that really set us back," said Hotez.
The numbers tell the story. Vaccinations took a significant hit when the winter storm rolled in. Texas bounced back for three straight weeks, but data shows it again slowed over Spring Break.
"With the B117 variant, we're going to need 80 to 85% vaccinated in the country, that means all adults pretty much and most adolescents, so we'll have our work cut out for this year," said Hotez.
Texas' size, rural population and hard to reach low income communities have all played a factor in the vaccine lag. So has a growing anti-science movement fueling vaccine hesitancy.
"This has been a problem that Texas has been ground zero for the anti vaccine movement in the United States for many years," said Hotez.
The good news is parts of Texas are doing better than others. Fort Bend and Galveston counties are over performing Texas with nearly 20 percent of their populations fully vaccinated.
Harris County still at 13 percent.
"Given our level of science and innovation, we should be right at the top," said Hotez. "Hopefully we'll continue to pick up the pace in the coming weeks,"