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Almost 30,000 pediatric COVID vaccines are on their way to Austin after the FDA granted emergency use authorization and the CDC recommended it for all 28 million children aged 5-11 in the U.S.
Here's where you can find pediatric vaccines in Austin:
- Austin Public Health, 15 Waller St. (5,100 doses)
- Seton Medical Center Austin, 1201 W 38th St. (5,100 doses)
- Lamar Plaza Drug Store, 1509 S. Lamar Blvd. (1,800 doses)
- Tarrytown Pharmacy, 2727 Exposition Blvd. (1,500 doses)
- Southwest Pediatric Associates, 7900 FM 1826 (1,200 doses)
- Wildflower Pediatrics, 11609 Anderson Mill Rd. (1,200 doses)
- Austin Regional Clinic-Far West, 6835 Austin Center Blvd. (900 doses)
- Austin Regional Clinic-Southwest, 1807 W Slaughter Ln. (900 doses)
- Austin Public Health Immunization Program, 15 Waller St. (900 doses)
- People's Community Clinic, 1101 Camino La Costa (600 doses)
- Austin Regional Clinic-South, 3828 S. 1st St. (600 doses)
- Grow Pediatrics And Adolescent Medicine, Pllc, 1600 W 38th St. (600 doses)
- Family Wellness Clinic Ut Austin School Of Nursing, 2901 N Interstate 35 (600 doses)
- Austin Diagnostic Clinic Travel Clinic, 12221 N Mopac Expy. (600 doses)
- Dell Childrens Medical Center Of Central Texas, 4900 Mueller Blvd. (600 doses)
- Texas Neuro Rehab Center, 1106 W Dittmar Rd. (300 doses)
- Austin Regional Clinic-Quarry Lake, 4515 Seton Center Pkwy (300 doses)
- 411 Pediatrics, 925 Westbank Dr. (300 doses)
- Austin Regional Clinic-Anderson Mill, 10401 Anderson Mill Rd. (300 doses)
- Austin Regional Clinic-Wilson Parke, 11714 Wilson Parke Ave. (300 doses)
- Schoolhouse Pediatrics, 4201 Bee Caves Rd. (300 doses)
- SOUTH AUSTIN MEDICAL CLINIC PLLC, 2555 WESTERN TRAILS BLVD. (300 doses)
- ELLIS PEDIATRICS, 12201 RENFERT WAY (300 doses)
- Bee Caves Pediatrics-Austin, 2499 S CAPITAL OF TEXAS HWY. (300 doses)
- Austin Childrens Clinic Pa, 11673 Jollyville Rd. (300 doses)
- One Medical, 3001 Palm Way (300 doses)
- Elissa Gonzalez, MD PLLC, 3503 Wild Cherry Dr. (300 doses)
- Pediatric Associates Of Austin, Pa, 1500 W 38TH ST. (300 doses)
- 38th Street Pharmacy, 711 WEST 38TH ST (300 doses)
- East Austin Medicine Shop, 1909 E 38 12 ST. (300 doses)
- Vina Pharmacy, 11207 N Lamar Blvd. (300 doses)
- Specialty Apothecary Group LLC, 2217 Park Bend Dr. (300 doses)
- Lake Hills Pharmacy, 12005 FM 2244 RD (300 doses)
- Texas Children's Specialty Care, 8611 North Mopac Expy, (300 doses)
- ARC East 7th, 2785 E. Seventh St., (300 doses)
- Communitycare South East Health And Wellness Clinic, 2901 Montopolis Dr. (300 doses)
- Shots For Tots Far South, 405 W Stassney Ln. (300 doses)
- Shots For Tots St Johns, 7500 Blessing Ave. (300 doses)
- Carousel Pediatrics Wm Cannon, 6425 S. Interstate 35 (300 doses)
- Carousel Pediatrics Ed Bluestein, 7112 Ed Bluestein Blvd. (300 doses)
- Communitycare East Austin, 211 Comal St. (300 doses)
- CommUnityCare-Rosewood Zaragosa, 2802 WEBBERVILLE RD. (300 doses)
- Central Texas Allied Health Institute, 2101 E. St. Elmo (100 doses)
Not included in this list are retail pharmacies, such as H-E-B and Walgreens, which get their own shipments; 349,200 doses will ship out to these pharmacies in Texas. To find a vaccine location nearest to you, use this tool from the CDC.
Some vaccine providers are already offering pediatric vaccine appointments, such as Tarrytown Pharmacy, ahead of the arrival of shipments. Austin Public Health has said it will set up four different vaccine locations by Nov. 8 and host a school vaccine pop-up on Nov. 15.
COVID vaccine providers were able to request pediatric vaccines, which should not be confused with the already-available 12 and older version.
This version, being identified as the orange cap bottles, one-third of the dosage of the current vaccine. The FDA reports it is 90% effective. It will also be given in two doses, 21 days apart. Side effects can include pain at the injection site, fatigue and headaches.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says the distribution of this vaccine is a big factor in reducing the virality of COVID-19 in the community.
"Vaccinating children between the ages of 5 and 11 helps to protect all Texans from COVID-19," said Dr. John Hellerstedt, DSHS commissioner.
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Popular
The Montopolis Dollar tree, run by one employee, closed earlier this month only after an AC specialist said it was unsafe. (Claire Partain)
Lopez was filmed working alone at the location May 1 in a since-deleted video that saw 2.9 million views and over 450,000 likes.
In the video, stacked boxes littered the floor, shelves were left unstocked and a leaky, broken air conditioning unit welcomed customers into the understaffed storefront.
@trishmartinez32#x_bazan06#fyp#fypシ#tiktok#friends#like#comment#4upage#4u#share#viralvideo#trending#wow#4upageシ♬ original sound - Patricia Martinez
Lopez, who now works at the dollar store's Springdale location, says she was left with the aftermath of a 90-hour workweek, lost wages and a mystery illness after the store closed a few days later.
"Nobody ever told me... that there was no air conditioning. They didn't tell me there was danger of getting robbed," Lopez told Austonia. "Nobody said anything... they didn't care."
The location didn't shut its doors because of the TikTok exposure: instead, an AC unit specialist doing routine maintenance found employees working in extreme heat and said it was too hot for employees to continue working.
"To operate a business, you have to have your temperature within a certain parameter," Ikaika, the specialist who didn't disclose his full name to protect his job, told Austonia. "As soon as you walk in, you start sweating... it's not good at all."
Lopez said working in 90+ degree heat became the norm in her two months at the location as air conditioning units remained broken for months before the closure. She added some employees, including her former manager and several customers, passed out in the store due to the heat. But she said company leadership remained unresponsive.
Lopez said she sent her district manager, Veronica Oyervides, screenshots of 90+ degree temperatures inside the store. (Maggie Lopez)
Four days after the air conditioning repairman told employees they should no longer keep working at the store, Lopez said her district manager, Veronica Oyervides, was asking her to come back in to prep the location for reopening. Lopez worked May 8 in the shuttered store prepping it for a reopening, which has yet to happen. Oyervides has declined to comment.
Ever since she started working in the deteriorating Dollar Tree, Lopez said she often wakes up with nosebleeds. She said she's constantly thirsty, her hands shake, and she's experiencing headaches and mood swings—symptoms she believes are due to long-term exposure to mold.
Former assistant manager Linnea Bradley told Austonia she has been hospitalized with symptoms linked to heat and stress after working at the store.
"We are sick and corporate does not give a shit," Lopez said. "What kind of damage did these stupid units do to our bodies?"
Lopez hasn't sought care for her symptoms. She says she makes $13.50 an hour and doesn't have health insurance.
Former employees have more complaints than just the heat: Lopez said that personal safety became a concern in the understaffed store. Catherine, a former employee who wished to only reveal her first name, said she's witnessed large-scale theft and instances of mismanagement in her months as a stocker at the location.
"They have no security, no cameras... they don't want you to have anything in writing," Catherine told Austonia. "It's just complete chaos."
Catherine said that she and other hourly employees were given zero hours for weeks on end as managers, who work on salary, were left to run the store alone from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. She said some managers became so desperate they were hiring homeless people to help stock shelves in exchange for a drink and a bite to eat.
While Catherine (top, middle) often had zero-hour weekly schedules, Martinez, who was paid on salary, worked back-to-back 90-hour workweeks. (Catherine) (Claire Partain)
"They actually did have people willing to work, they just refused to give them hours," Catherine said. "I'm not understanding whether Dollar Tree wants to go under... are they doing this as a tax break?"
Other Austin Dollar Tree locations have reported similar issues. Former manager Jonathan Martinez, who says he was supposed to work 45 hours a week, says he was racking up 90+ hour workweeks and sleeping in the store as he shouldered both the Montopolis and William Cannon locations while his newborn baby was in the ICU in March.
Martinez kept extra clothes in this office after working seven-day weeks at two Dollar Tree locations. (Claire Partain)
Martinez said he slept on boxes as he juggled the job and visiting his newborn in the ICU. (Claire Partain)
Martinez said he slept on boxes as he juggled the job and visiting his newborn in the ICU. (Claire Partain)
"As long as the store stays open, there are corporate people getting bonuses," Martinez, who quit last week after receiving a $100 annual bonus, told Austonia. "Six months ago, when corporate people had a shitload of bonuses, that's when they upped the price (of everything in the store from $1 to $1.25)."
In the six months since Dollar Tree hiked its prices to $1.25, it's gained plenty of mostly negative national attention. In February, the Food and Drug Administration shut down an Arkansas distribution plant due to a massive rodent infestation, and several lawsuits have ensued. The company has also come under fire for selling allegedly expired over-the-counter medicine and its worker shortage at locations across the country.
One employee, who still works for Dollar Tree and wished to remain anonymous, said that they've seen or heard that many area locations are near their breaking point.
"I've seen the good, the bad, the bad to worse," they said. "And it's always a rinse repeat kind of thing... How many more (stores) will go? And what about the employees?"
"Every time I would tell (Oyervides) 'I'm just going to close, I can't stand it anymore,' she would say, 'No, no, no,'" Lopez said. "And I'd be so upset because why? They have my paycheck. It's just been mortifying... the most horrible year of my life."
Dollar Tree's regional director did not respond to requests for comment from Austonia.
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