COVID-19 response

H-E-B pharmacies in Houston to open COVID-19 vaccine appointments

Pharmacy woman holding vaccine covid-19 coronavirus

H-E-B will open its appointment portal "in the coming days."

Photo courtesy of H-E-B

In early December, H-E-B announced it would take part in the unprecedented rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Now, the San Antonio-based grocer is preparing to open its vaccine scheduler tool to the public at its pharmacies across Texas, including Houston.

In a January 11 news release, the grocery chain said it has requested and is awaiting another allocation of vaccine from the State of Texas. Though the exact timeline is not known, H-E-B says it once it receives those doses, it will activate its online scheduling tool "in the coming days," so those who fall into the 1B category can begin to request appointments.

"H-E-B has strong capacity to administer vaccine, however that depends on the quantity of Covid-19 vaccine allocated to us from the state of Texas," the grocer said in a release.

Currently, the Texas Department of State Health Services has approved vaccines for healthcare workers (1A) and those over 65 or those over 16 with one or more chronic medical condition (1B). Exactly who is eligible to receive the vaccine may soon change. On January 12, the Trump Administration said it will recommend giving a coronavirus vaccine to everyone over 65 in the country in an effort to speed up the sluggish, bumbled rollout of the vaccine.

Individuals who fall into either of these categories should note that appointments should only be made through the portal, and walk-ups will not be accepted. Healthcare providers with groups larger than 30 should email wellnessservices@heb.com to schedule an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Following the directive from the state, our pharmacies will vaccinate people identified in Phase 1B if we have doses left after prioritizing healthcare providers in Phase 1A who are waiting to receive the vaccine," H-E-B said.

Each vial contains 10 doses of the COVID-19 dose that must be used within hours of opening. Once healthcare workers (that 1A category) have been prioritized, the government has authorized distributors to not waste doses, but rather give them to those in the next category.

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safe suburbs

Houston neighbor shines on new 2025 list of safest American cities

Photo courtesy of Visit Pearland

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New Year's resolutions can come in many forms, and if relocating to a safe Houston-area suburb is high on the list for 2025, Pearland is the place to be.

Pearland was declared the No. 13 safest city in America for 2025 in a new study by personal finance advisors MoneyGeek. The website's experts examined the most recent FBI crime statistics (from 2023) to determine the cost of crime in 292 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000 residents.

The estimated cost of crime in this Houston suburb – which the study calculated as the "societal cost of crime per resident" – was $471 in 2023.

Pearland's crime cost per capita is far lower the national crime cost, which was $2,178 per resident.

The report also analyzed the city's violent crime and property crime rates, and Pearland had the 11th lowest rate of violent crime in 2023 with only 106 crimes committed for every 100,000 residents.

The city didn't fare as well with its property crime rate; there were 1,669 property crimes committed in 2023 per 100,000 residents, which was the 68th lowest rate out of all 292 U.S. cities.

However, that's still a better rate than most places in the country. Pearland residents can be smug that they don't live in Oakland, California, which had the highest property crime rate in the nation with 10,117 crimes committed per 100,000 residents.

Finally, MoneyGeek determined each city's total cost of crime, which the study defines as the "economic losses attributed to crime and its cost to society (individuals, community and nationally) in millions."

In this metric, Pearland had the seventh-lowest total crime cost, which was less than $60 million in 2023.

While some of these statistics may seem scary, Tulane University associate professor of political science Geoffrey T. Dancy warns it is unwise to make assumptions about a city based solely on its crime rates.

"We live in an unequal society," said Dancy in the report. "One often overlooked indicator of that inequality is who gets to engage in the politics of safety. Those who are objectively safe often fear crime and act on it in the counterproductive policies they support. Those who are actually victimized by crime and terrorized by gun violence pay the price and are rarely heard."

Elsewhere in Texas, the Dallas suburb of Frisco nearly topped the list as the No. 2 safest city in America with a $287 crime cost per capita. Other safe Texas cities in the report include Plano (No. 18), Sugar Land (No. 20), McKinney (No. 22), Round Rock (No. 26), Grand Prairie (No. 42), and League City (No. 48).

The top 10 safest American cities for 2025 are:

No. 1 – Ramapo Town, New York
No. 2 – Frisco, Texas
No. 3 – Irvine, California
No. 4 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 5 – Lakewood Township, New Jersey
No. 6 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 7 – Pembroke Pines, Florida
No. 8 – Elk Grove, California
No. 9 – Surprise, Arizona
No. 10 – Sterling Heights, Michigan

For the purpose of the study, violent crime rates were determined based on the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults per 100,000 residents; and property crimes were defined as the rates of burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft offenses per 100,000 residents.

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