KILLEEN, Texas — The City of Killeen, alongside Mayor Jose Segarra, are planning a COVID-19 vaccine campaign to encourage residents to get vaccinated over the next several weeks, according to city officials.
City officials tell 6 News, as soon as the city saw cases rising in July, they started working on the campaign.
The campaign began Aug. 13 with the release of the first video in a series of public service announcements (PSAs). Informational fliers were also released the following day to the Bell County Health District, as well as other health professionals. According to an official statement, the city plans on including informational filers in resident water bills.
City officials said residents can text their zip code to GETVAX (438829) for a list of nearby locations to receive the vaccine along with information about rides and free childcare. This information is included in all the videos and filers as told in a official statement. Residents may also call the connected hotline at 1-800-232-0233 for the same information.
City leaders want residents to remain vigilant about the vaccine, the delta variant and the information set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Last year we weren't doing a lot of messaging campaigning, we were doing a lot of you know 'Here's the new governor order and how you follow that,'" said the city's Emergency Management Coordinator Peter Perez. "But now I think we have a lot more leeway in order to just push public information and answer a lot of questions that we see coming from the public."
Overall, the campaign is targeted to encourage people to help slow the spread of the virus which will also help ease strains on local healthcare workers and the city's emergency services.
Killeen Fire Chief James Kubinski said the recent surge has already changed the amount of service calls the department is seeing and has added a strain to personnel.
"We have dealt with infectious diseases our entire careers here -- It's nothing new, it's just the fact that it was very rare that we come across a case like that where we're doing this five or six times a day now," he said. "About five months ago we were at zero calls per day that were potential COVID-related patients."
Kubinki also said his team physically and mentally struggles putting on personal protective equipment on top of all the gear in the Texas heat.
He is hopeful that this new campaign can turn things around for the department and the rest of Killeen.
All PSA videos can be viewed on City of Killeen’s social media channels, as well as the city’s website and the Government Channel (Spectrum Channel 10).