Dallas County Health and Human Services expects to open a mega COVID-19 vaccine center in Fair Park next week, with the capacity to vaccinate up to 2,000 people a day as the state moves to open more vaccination centers on wide scale.
County officials say they plan to start Monday, but that may depend on when they receive their next vaccine shipment from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Vaccines will only be given to those on the DCHHS waiting list and by appointment only – they will not be offered to the general public or on walks. Currently, Dallas County only vaccinates those in phase 1A, but expects to begin vaccinating those in phase 1B when the mega center opens next week.
The county also plans to provide vaccinations for up to 1,000 people a day at Ellis Davis Field House and Eastfield College, in addition to 2,000 people a day at the mega Fair Park center.
The COVID-19 vaccine is currently administered only to those in Phase 1A and 1B, as highlighted by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Those in Phase 1A are front-line health workers or residents of long-term care institutions. Phase 1B includes those over the age of 65 or those over the age of 16 with a chronic condition that puts them at risk for serious illness.
Once vaccinated, people are expected to get a certain level of protection within a few weeks of the first shot, but full protection may not happen until a few weeks after the second shot. Even when completely vaccinated, it is still possible to become infected with the virus because the vaccine does not provide 100% protection.
The Fair Park Mega Vaccine Center is coming as the state health department begins directing vaccines to providers who can vaccinate more than 100,000 people in large-scale vaccination centers.
“Providers who receive higher amounts of vaccine will vaccinate health care workers, people over the age of 65 and those with a condition that increases their risk of serious illness or death. I also agree to provide a registration phone number and website and to focus on the areas and populations most affected by COVID-19 while vaccinating people in the surrounding areas, “DSHS said in a statement. ready.
Texas DSHS said it will release the full list of vaccine hub providers later this week once the vaccine allocation is complete.
Additional vaccines will continue to be distributed to smaller providers in other parts of the state – a total of Texas will distribute a total of about 200,000 doses of vaccine next week to both large and small statewide providers.
“The vaccine remains limited depending on the ability of the producers to produce it, so it will take a long time for Texas to receive enough vaccine for people in priority populations who want to be vaccinated,” DSHS said. “Supply is expected to increase in the coming months, and additional vaccines are in clinical trials and may be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.”
The week of January 11 is the last week in which the state is required to reserve doses to vaccinate residents and staff of long-term care institutions under the federal pharmaceutical-LTC partnership, which means that more vaccines will be released next week to be vaccinated. settings used.
Katy Blakey of NBC 5 contributed to the report.