Accessing more COVID-19 vaccine at ARC

A Letter to Austin Regional Clinic Patients and the Greater Austin Community,

Beginning last January 2020, and continuing through today, the historic COVID pandemic has overshadowed all of our lives, some more profoundly than others.

Thankfully, through technology and modern science, two highly effective vaccines now provide a path toward normalcy, but we're not out of the woods, yet.

This first half of 2021 will continue to present us with ongoing COVID challenges, including obtaining vaccine supplies needed to immunize 330 million Americans, along with our ability as a country to produce and distribute them. Our challenge at ARC has been to obtain adequate supplies of vaccine. We are exhausting every possible avenue to access more vaccine supplies. We are certain of our ability to deliver the vaccine efficiently and rapidly as it becomes more available.

ARC, in coordination with local, county, and Texas state public health departments, as well as hospital systems and physician groups, are all diligently working together to provide vaccinations for the entire Austin metropolitan area. The extraordinary community effort focused on eliminating the dangers posed by this virus is monumental in scope. Working together, we are confident the Greater Austin Metropolitan community will succeed in beating this pandemic.

All ARC staff and physicians take great pride and consider it a privilege to serve you. We are dedicated to keeping our clinics open, and we remain available to you through this crisis.

Please know:

• ARC is committed to providing immunizations to all of our patients as vaccine allocations become available.
• ARC is grateful for and commends the efforts of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, Austin Public Health, the county, municipal authorities and so many others for their diligence in combatting COVID.
• To date, ARC has vaccinated 8,000 patients, the vast majority being front line workers and individuals 65 years and older. When more vaccines become available, please be assured we will inform you. Our electronic medical record system has automatically registered ARC patients according to age and underlying medical conditions.
• Also, because vaccine supply and distribution has been spotty and unpredictable, if you have any opportunity to be vaccinated elsewhere, regardless of the venue, do it!

Over the past 40 years, ARC has grown from a small medical practice to a leader in Central Texas healthcare. All of us here at ARC remain committed to providing you with high-quality medical care, and, of course, being an ongoing resource to overcome the challenges of this pandemic together. We are all in this together.

Thank you,