The high vaccination rate in Travis County is due in large part to the bipartisan efforts of local lawmakers, according to County Judge Andy Brown.
Brown said that working alongside his Central Texas Republican colleagues on efforts to vaccinate residents has led to Travis County having one of the highest vaccination rates in the state, according to WFAA.
“So, I think part of this, frankly, is taking politics out of it,” Brown said. “Two of the county judges I was working with were Republicans. I’m a Democrat. And we all just said, ‘You know what? This is what the doctors are telling us we need to do. Let’s make the vaccines as available as possible for our populations.’”
Brown told the news station that he worked with the county judges of Bastrop, Caldwell and Hays counties early on to partake in coordination efforts that led to a huge drive-thru vaccination event at the Circuit of the Americas in the southwest portion of Travis County.
Austin Public Health (APH) recently raised the area’s risk-based guidance to stage five, its highest level, in response to the omicron threat facing the region, according to a news release.
“The omicron variant continues to be a rising threat and we all need to do our part to lower our Community Transmission Rate,” Brown said. “We need everyone to mask up, vax up and boost up. These small but effective actions provide the best protection for you, your loved ones and our community as a whole.”
According to the news release, the Austin-Travis area has seen 95 new hospital admissions, raising its “seven-day moving average of hospitalizations to 74.”
