ARLINGTON, Texas — A group of Arlington residents began lining up outside Cornerstone Baptist Church on Thursday afternoon for their appointments to get their dose of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“This is very helpful for us,” said Alicia Hill as she waited for her son to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The church is among neighborhood and community sites where the Arlington Fire Department is distributing the shots. In recent weeks, Arlington Fire Department staffers have also been proactive in administering the vaccine to some homebound residents.
"It’s important because we want to make sure everyone is protected. We see that there are some gaps in the process in the system, we can fill in those gaps," said Lt. Richard Fegan, a Public Information Officer with the Arlington Fire Department.
That vaccine distribution effort was happening as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that the state is expanding its Save Our Seniors initiative. That program focuses on getting vaccine to homebound seniors.
”So far, 90 counties have participated in the program to vaccinate homebound seniors,” Abbott explained.
The Dallas County communities of Cedar Hill and DeSoto have already been part of the Save Our Seniors project.
“We’re trying to make it easier than ever before to able to get your shot,” Abbott said.
The rollout of similar community-focused efforts for mobility-challenged seniors is a concern to some Dallas city leaders.
“They simply want to have access to that vaccine in their homes. They’re afraid,” District 4 Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold explained.
Arnold said she has been hearing from families whose loved ones are disabled or unable to make it out to vaccination hubs. She believes efforts to bring doses to churches, other neighborhood sites, and launch in-home vaccine programs, locally, aren’t happening fast enough.
“We have the Fire Department ready to go. We have the visiting nurses ready to go. We have Meals on Wheels ready to go," she said. "All they need is simply the vaccine. So, it’s something that can be accomplished. We just need someone to take the politics out of this conversation and take care of those individuals who need it the most."
Last month, City of Dallas Emergency Operations staffers said they were scouting neighborhood sites for possible vaccine distribution. They said it’s possible those efforts would be formalized as more Johnson & Johnson vaccine becomes available to the region.