DALLAS — Lines of cars were busy filing into the community coronavirus vaccination center at Fair Park on Friday. Members of Congress from the Dallas area visited.
“This is incredible,” Representative Colin Allred said, as he watched cars moving through the tents.
Allred, along with Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson and Representative Mark Veasey took time to tour the site on Friday. They wanted to observe Dallas County and FEMA’s vaccine distribution efforts in action.
“This is federal support at work. We have active duty military here, helping out with the local health officials. And providing the federal funds and putting that into needles in folks’ arms,” said Allred.
The Democratic congressional delegation’s visit comes on the heels of the U.S. House of Representatives passing the American Rescue Plan. It’s also days before Governor Greg Abbott officially ends the state’s mask mandate and reopens Texas at 100%.
“I really do not want people to subject themselves to a virus that still killing people, just because the governor said you can take off the mask,” said Johnson.
As they watched drivers maneuver through the lines, the lawmakers weighed in on other issues. They called out the optics over alleged political moves. They said the vaccine availability and dose distribution remain concerns.
“As soon as we got FEMA to agree to bring more vaccines, the governor took that same amount away, which was walking backwards,” said Johnson.
While the group agreed the vaccination site at Fair Park has its pluses, the group agreed more work needs to be done moving forward.
“We know we have to get the distribution up,” said Allred.
The members of Congress said they will continue working with local and federal policy makers, as they continue working to get communities access to more vaccine.