Gone are the days of long lines and signing up on various portals. Now anyone 16 and up can walk into a Wal-Mart or get a same day appointment at a drug store. It's being given at doctor's offices.
Providers will now order vaccine as they need it and they'll get it either from the state's pharmacy warehouse in Austin or place the order with the CDC and it will go straight to the provider.
Chris Van Deusen with the Texas Department of State Health Services says, "it's a big step."
"We knew we would get to this point at some time during this vaccine distribution. So it's going to be a much more sort of a normal process. Providers can decide how much they need and can order it."
There is still a statewide cap from the federal government, but Texas is no longer meeting that cap so there is plenty of vaccine available," says Van Deusen.
Van Deusen recalls the first federal allocation. He says 20 to 30 thousand doses arrived in Texas December 19th. "We have come a long way. The vaccine supply has really increased over the last several months. There were days when we were getting a million doses a day delivered in to Texas."
He says it is available at hundreds or thousands of location. "It should be easier now than it ever has before and more convenient. That's our next task, is really to make vaccination as convenient as possible for those folks who weren't desperate to get it. Who didn't want to stand in line or get on a long waiting list."
More than half of all Texans 16 and up have gotten at least one dose of vaccine.
