DALLAS — County health officials across North Texas are fine tuning plans as they prepare for more adults to get a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Texas Department of State Health Services announced it is expanding vaccine eligibility to all adults beginning March 29.
"I think that’s great news," said Dallas City Councilman Casey Thomas.
Thomas is chair of the city’s COVID-19 task force and believes the announcement is long overdue.
Community organizer Leslie Armijo has been spending weeks registering hundreds of people for the vaccine.
"It’s great that it’s opening up to everyone. But for me, it just shows that we don’t have enough people registered. We don’t have enough outreach in the community,” said Armijo.
Dallas County leaders agree registration efforts need to ramp up.
Beginning next Monday, anyone 18 and older in Dallas County is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Providers are being asked to give priority appointments to older residents and moving those 80 and up toward to front of the line.
"We need to see how we can begin to get vendors who can go into homes and vaccinate those who are homebound. That needs to happen pronto,” said Thomas.
Discussions are happening between the City and Dallas County health officials, as more vaccines are expected to be available in the coming weeks.
"You know we are making progress. But, we are not over with this yet,” said Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.
Strides are being made at the Fair Park vaccination hub. So far, about 522,000 people have received at least one dose of vaccine from this site. Workers have helped fully vaccinate 266,000 people.
Thirteen percent of the Dallas County population is fully vaccinated.
"That’s why it’s too early to claim victory on this. So we need to stay vigilant,” said Huang.
With that, grassroots organizers like Armijo said they will continue making sure residents are registered for the vaccine.
"We need to be more out there for individuals that don’t have access,” said Armijo.
Dallas County residents may register for the COVID-19 vaccine by visiting https://www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination.php.
