DALLAS — The grounds at Fair Park in Dallas were busy on Monday. The City of Dallas and Dallas County opened the region’s first COVID-19 vaccine mega center.
“We signed up for it last week when we found out they were taking applications,” said Celia Moore.
Moore and her husband, Richard, were among hundreds of people who showed up, with scheduled appointments, to get their first dose of the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine. The couple said it’s about time.
“So we can get out of the house. We’ve been hold up now for a year or so. We like to go places, so that’s why we are doing this,” Moore explained.
Dallas city and county leaders say they are working with the state, and other partners, to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to as many people as possible from the Fair Park mega center.
“Most everybody there is the older people, like me,” Mike Carroll said.
Right now, the vaccine is being offered to people in the 1A and 1B groups. Priority is going to residents 75 and older and to those with chronic illnesses.
“It wanted it really bad. I just did not want to worry about not having that vaccine,” Carroll added.
Dallas County is working to help vaccinate about 2,000 people per day from the Fair Park site. The goal includes administering 200 doses of vaccine per hour this week. City and county leaders are optimistic in increasing the amount of vaccine doses in coming weeks.
”This really is the final frontier in the battle against COVID-19,” Mayor Eric Johnson said.
Even with the opening of the regional vaccine mega center, health officials say the reality in Dallas County remains troubling.
”You know, a reminder, we are at record numbers of hospitalization still as I speak today,” said Dr. Phil Huang, Director of Dallas County Health and Human Services. “We’re still assessing the impact from Christmas, and we’re very concerned about where we are going with the stress on our healthcare system.”
As Dallas County continues seeing a surge in positive coronavirus cases, community-based COVID-19 testing sites remain busy.
More than 140,000 people have signed up for the vaccine using the Dallas County Health and Human Services website. Appointments are being scheduled.
”Just be patient. Sign up. We’ll get with you,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins added.
To register for the COVID-19 vaccine, you can visit the Dallas County Health and Human Services website at https://www.dallascounty.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination.php.