Bell County, Texas

Belton, TX – On Wednesday, January 20,Bell County health officials announced changes to the operations of its two COVID-19 vaccination centers.

Beginning this week, the county’s vaccination centers in Temple and Killeen will each adjust their days of operation. Both centers will now be open Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday. Emails communicating the resulting shift in schedules are being sent Thursday to those with appointments on or after Sunday, January 24.

“The goal of these changes is to create a schedule that will not be disrupted by potential delays in the shipping of our allocated vaccine doses,” Dr. Amanda Chadwell, Director of the Bell County Public Health District said. “By closing on Sunday and Monday, we should be able to reserve enough doses that we can continue to operate, even if we do not receive that week’s delivery until Tuesday, as was the case this week.”

Unfortunately, this change is going to impact all appointments scheduled on Sunday, January 24, or later.

“I can certainly understand the frustration that this may cause some of our patients,” Dr. Chadwell said, “but we believe that this is a necessary adjustment to help us better serve the people of Bell County and Texas moving forward.”

Those with vaccination appointments scheduled this Sunday or later will keep the same appointment time but be moved to a date two to four days later. This shift is detailed in the table below:

This is the sixth week of the state allocating vaccines across the state, and it is the beginning of just the second week for Bell County,” County Judge David Blackburn said. “It is a fluid process with a lot of moving parts, and I think everyone in the logistics chain is still learning what works best.”