After winter weather forced the main COVID-19 vaccine hubs to close last week, Dallas and Tarrant counties faced another hurdle, as the state announced it would reduce its dose allocation to zero this week for Dallas. County Health and Human Services and Tarrant County Public Health.
Other county hubs, such as Parkland Hospital in Dallas and Texas Health in Fort Worth, will continue to receive large amounts of vaccine.
“We have people waiting on the January list to get vaccinated,
so we need them not to mess with the North Texas vaccine, “said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
The state movement comes after partnerships with FEMA were announced in both counties.
This week, FEMA will begin operating vaccination centers in Dallas and Fair Park
Arlington’s Globe Life Field. Both sites will vaccinate 21,000 people a week for three weeks and focus on vaccinating those living in under-served zip codes.
Dallas County Health and Human Services
Tarrant Judge Glen Whitley said he was assured that the state’s supply of the vaccine would not be discontinued until it agreed to the FEMA partnership.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” Whitley said. “We do everything we said we would do and we just want the state to step up and do what they agreed to do when we agreed to be a FEMA site.”
Whitley said the state measure removed 16,000 vaccines from the expected allocation this week and caused them to collapse in other vaccination sites.
Late Monday, Whitley said Texas Health Resources agreed to give 5,000 of their doses to the health department to help vaccinate more people on the county’s waiting list.
Jenkins said the state’s decision means at least 9,000 fewer people will be vaccinated this week than expected. He said that the state’s decision also affected the vaccination lots from other vaccination places in the county.
“The state is receiving a record amount of vaccine this week. We are not asking for more than we are receiving. We are only asking for what the citizens have received each week,” Jenkins said.
NBC 5 contacted the Texas State Department of Health and Governor Gregg Abbott’s office for information about the decision and received the following statement from a DSHS spokesman.
“The vaccine allocated to Dallas and Tarrant counties is approximately equal to where it has been in the last few weeks, when the doses associated with the FEMA effort are included. With a heart of more than 84,000 doses heading to just three counties, the Expert Vaccine Allocation Commission has recommended sending additional doses to certain parts of the state that have not received nearly as many vaccines, in line with its principle of vaccination. equitable distribution of the vaccine throughout the state. This allowed us to allocate the vaccine to 230 counties for next week, most of any week so far.
“The vaccine is given weekly, and the amount of vaccine available changes each week.“
Both Whitley and Jenkins contacted the health department and the governor’s office to appeal the decision.
Want to get a waiting list for vaccines?
As the state begins distributing COVID-19 vaccines to those in Phase 1A and 1B, county health departments have begun waiting lists for those who want to be inoculated.
You can register now to get vaccinated in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties. The links are below:
Waiting list links: Collin – Waiting list search | Dallas | Denton | Tarrant
You do not have to be a county resident to register for a COVID-19 vaccine in that county – registration is open to anyone in Texas. For those without internet access, Tarrant County also makes registrations by phone at 817-248-6299. In Dallas County, call the DCHHS Vaccine Helpline at 1-855-IMMUNE9 (1-855-466-8639). In Denton County, call 940-349-2585.