HOUSTON — The City of Houston, Houston Health Department and Harris County Public Health are teaming up with school districts to hold ‘Super Saturday Vaccination Days.’
The idea is to make it easier to get students, ages 12 and up, and families vaccinated as school is starting. So every Saturday in August, there will be campuses open for free vaccinations.
“Families and educators have a right to feel safe going to a place they know and trust such as a school building to get the vaccine,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner in a release on Wednesday. “Having more families and educators vaccinated will mean less students and educators getting sick and missing school. Our goal and our hope with Super Saturday Vaccination Days is to administer enough vaccines that will allow for parents, educators, and students to feel comfortable enough to return to face to face instruction and be better protected from variants of COVID-19.”
The school districts taking part in Super Saturday Vaccination Days by having at least one school participating are the following: Aldine ISD, Alief ISD, Crosby ISD, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Galena Park ISD, Houston ISD, Huffman ISD, Katy ISD, Pasadena ISD, and Spring Branch ISD.
The city has posted a complete list of school campuses, days and hours of Super Saturday Vaccination Days. You can see that list here.
Wastewater in Houston shows COVID levels rising fast
News of the new vaccination effort came as we learned how far and wide the Delta variant is spreading. According to Dr. David Persse with the city of Houston, the level of COVID in wastewater samples is more than three times the benchmark from this time last year.
And because of that, hospitals are filling up and patients are paying the price.
"The virus in our community is spreading rapidly. It's spreading everywhere. It's spreading very intensely. And we are at a level of virus in the wastewater that we have never seen before," Persse said.
The message from city and county leaders – get vaccinated.