Doctors are urging people who have not received an updated COVID booster to get vaccinated against the virus and flu.
"We strongly encourage the public to get both this season," says Dallas County Health Director Phil Huang.
The CDC also urges kids under two years old, adults over 60 and pregnant women to get the RSV vaccine.
COVID cases and hospitalizations have been increasing but remain far short of the peak of more than 14,000 hospitalizations across Texas in January of 2021.
"We're in a very different place than we were then, fortunately," Huang says. "That's why the recommendations have evolved."
The Department of State Health Services confirmed 7,800 cases of COVID-19 the week before Christmas, 558 more than the previous week. DSHS also reported 46 deaths from the virus, down from 48 the week before.
DSHS says hospitals in Texas had 1,507 hospital patients the week before Christmas, 82 more than the previous week but much lower than the peak of more than 14,000 patients in January of 2021.
Jeff Loesch, director of pharmacy for Kroger's Dallas Division, says all pharmacies will follow guidelines to transport and give the vaccine.
Pfizer recommends storing its COVID vaccine at -60 degrees to -80 degrees Celsius until being thawed for use. Then the vaccine can be kept refrigerated up to five days but should not be kept at room temperature more than 30 minutes.
Moderna says its vaccine should be kept at -15 to -25 degrees Celsius and can be refrigerated at two to eight degrees Celsius up to 30 days and unrefrigerated for 12 hours.
Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine can be kept between two and eight degrees Celsius up to three months and between nine and 25 degrees Celsius up to 12 hours.
"We do have means to transport vaccines refrigerated," Kroger's Loesch says. "Of course, we do bring those to room temperature to administer them."
Loesch says Kroger and other pharmacies often have to keep vaccines or other medication in certain conditions.
"We do have a process in place to ensure we manage all vaccines to keep them in the proper temperature ranges," he says. "The infrastructure has been in place, and we do that with all vaccines, not just COVID and flu."
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