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Texas launches statewide COVID-19 vaccine appointment scheduler

With the state's new scheduler, Texans should more easily be able to get a vaccine appointment.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, Texas has opened vaccine eligibility to everyone age 16 and older. But tracking down an available vaccine appointment has been quite challenging for many. Now the state is rolling out a new scheduling system to help ease those difficulties.

On March 29, the Texas Department of State Health Services launched its Texas Public Health Vaccine Scheduler, which gives Texans wanting the COVID-19 vaccine one place to sign up for the shot through multiple public health departments. That includes eight DSHS public health regions providing services in nearly 200 Texas counties and more than a dozen local health entities throughout the state.

DSHS directs Texas residents to visit getthevaccine.dshs.texas.gov to create a personal profile that includes the person’s contact info, demographic specifics, and their preferred time of day and days of the week for a vaccine appointment. DSHS claims that within a day, eligible Texans will be matched with the next available appointment in their home county at one of their chosen appointment times.

Should no appointments be available meeting those criteria, the scheduler will continue to look for vaccine appointments as new clinics are scheduled, and then contact Texans when they have secured an appointment.

DSHS recognizes not all Texans will be able to use the online scheduling tool, so it has also set up a toll-free phone number — 1-833-832-7067 — which will be available from 7 am to 7 pm seven days a week. There, Texans can enroll in the scheduler and get help making a vaccine appointment.

For Texans who do not have a participating health department in their area, the DSHS scheduler may refer them to other local providers holding vaccination clinics near them.

The public health entities participating in the DSHS Texas Public Health Vaccine Scheduler program include:

DSHS Public Health Regions
Bastrop County Health Authority
Cameron County Emergency Management
City of Garland Health Department
Hays County Local Health Department
City of Laredo Health Department
LaSalle County Regional Health Authority
Lavaca County Health Authority
Marshall-Harrison County Health District
Parker County Health Authority
Rockwall County Health Authority
San Angelo-Tom Green County Health Department
Throckmorton Rural Health Clinic
Uvalde Health Authority

While the vaccine scheduler is likely to be helpful for many Texans on the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, DSHS readily admits it will not replace all COVID-19 vaccine registration in Texas.

“Many entities — including pharmacies, medical practices and some public health departments — are operating their own registration systems and will continue to do so,” DSHS says. “People who want to be vaccinated should continue to look for available vaccine at those providers as well.”

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better luck next year

Austin drops out of top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Tracy Vu on Unsplash

Austin needs to put in some major work to improve its ranking for the 2026 report.

In a surprising turn for the city, Austin is no longer considered one the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Austin the 53rd best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Austin took a 10-place tumble after previously ranking as No. 43 for two consecutive years, starting in 2022.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Austin in the top 15 – when explaining the Texas Capital's successes. The report praised Austin's "progressive spirit," economic prosperity, and the award-winning University of Texas at Austin.

"Austin continues to position itself as a hub of innovation and talent," the report's author wrote. "Over the past decade, the Austin area has become a magnet for major corporations, with Tesla recently establishing headquarters here to join long-standing players like Whole Foods and Dell."

However, Resonance attribute's Austin's dip in the rankings due to rising office vacancy rates and high housing prices.

"The office vacancy rate is climbing as remote work continues to impact the demand for commercial spaces," the report said. "Moreover, housing remains among the least affordable in the U.S., despite home prices having dropped 18 percent from the pandemic highs seen in mid-2022, the most among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas according to Redfin."

Elsewhere in Texas, both Houston and Dallas made major rebounds on the World's Best Cities list for 2025 from the previous year's rankings. Houston had plummeted into No. 66 in 2023, but has now skyrocketed back into the top 50 to claim the No. 40 spot. Meanwhile, Dallas moved up from No. 73 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).

austin reports city life