COVID-19 vaccine: Houston Mayor Turner shot COVID-19 as a “mega” vaccine center

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was among the city’s top leaders to receive the first doses of Modern COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

His vaccination at City Hall comes as all the available chances offered to residents to get shot this month fill up quickly.

Earlier in the day, the Turner office announced the launch of an online dating portal to allow Houstonians who qualify for Phase 1B vaccination launches to register. The site was built in addition to a call center that was temporarily down due to overwhelming demand.

The mayor visited with the residents on Sunday the first public vaccination place COVID-19 in the city, at the Bayou City Events Center. Appointments there have been completely booked for the second day in a row, but people could still call to make an appointment later this week.

In a tweet posted by Turner on Sunday, a total of 986 people were vaccinated.

And just like Sunday, Turner reported another full Monday, but urged residents who qualify for the vaccine to receive the vaccine once it becomes available. He also urged those in the black, Hispanic and Asian-American communities – all classified as high-risk – to make appointments as soon as possible.

In addition to the mayor, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, Fire Chief Samuel Pena, Turner City Council colleagues and a handful of front-line public works employees were vaccinated.

According to the state health department’s vaccine scoreboard, as of Monday, Harris County has administered at least 62,321 first doses so far.

Turner said the city is trying to increase the number of doses given each day at its public vaccination site. The city is also working to open additional mass sites in the future. However, he said there were still challenges.

“We need dollars from the latest stimulus package to get here as soon as possible,” he explained. “As you know, they didn’t go through that until the end of the year … right at the end. So many of these (hinder) the ability to climb to hire a lot more people, because in order to have all these sites, you have to really have ubiquitous vaccinations, large-scale vaccinations. You need more staff, quite a bit, and the ability to set up mobile sites and the ability to go to people’s homes to actually vaccinate them.

If you meet the requirements to get the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine as part of Phase 1B and want to make an appointment at the city’s public vaccination clinic, you can call the COVID-19 call center of the city’s health department at 832-393 -4220 or visit Houston vaccine website.

The clinic is housed at the Bayou City Event Center, located at 9401 Knight Rd.

RodeoHouston volunteers approached the future vaccination site

Going hand in hand with a planned mega center, Turner also faces a problem when it comes to the workforce and future vaccination clinics.

In an email, past Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo volunteers were informed that the annual show was approached by the city to help find volunteers to work at the vaccination sites that will soon open.

Rodeo volunteers who agree to be part of the sites will be eligible, but must not be vaccinated as part of Phase 1A, according to the email.

The tasks of the volunteers vary from medical to logistical and clerical.