Dallas County Health and Human Services hopes to open a COVID-19 vaccine megacentre in Fair Park next week, with the capacity to vaccinate up to 2,000 people a day, as the state moves to open more large-scale vaccination centers.
County officials say they plan to start on Monday, but that may depend on when they receive their next vaccine shipment from the Texas State Department of Health Services.
Vaccines will be administered only to those on the DCHHS waiting list and by appointment only – they will not be given to the general public or on visits. Dallas County is currently vaccinating only those in Phase 1A, but expects to start vaccinating those in Phase 1B when the megacentre opens next week.
The county is also planning to provide vaccines for up to 1,000 people a day at Ellis Davis Field House and Eastfield College, in addition to 2,000 people a day at the megacentre Fair Park.
The COVID-19 vaccine is currently being administered only to those in Phases 1A and 1B, as described by the Texas Department of Health Services. Those in Phase 1A are frontline health professionals or residents of long-term care facilities. Phase 1B includes those over 65 or those over 16 with a chronic medical condition that puts them at risk for serious illness.
Once vaccinated, people are expected to achieve some level of protection within a few weeks after the first injection, but full protection may not happen until a few weeks after the second injection. Even when fully vaccinated, it is still possible to be infected by the virus, as the vaccine does not offer 100% protection.
The Fair Park vaccine megacentre comes as the state health department begins to target vaccines to providers that can vaccinate more than 100,000 people at large-scale vaccination centers.
“Suppliers who receive larger amounts of the vaccine will vaccinate healthcare professionals, people aged 65 and over, and those who have a medical condition that increases the risk of serious illness or death. They also agree to provide a registration phone number and site and focus on the areas and populations most affected by COVID-19 by vaccinating people in neighboring areas, “said the DSHS in a prepared statement.
Texas DSHS said it will publish the full list of vaccine center suppliers later this week, once the vaccine distribution is complete.
Additional vaccines will still be distributed to smaller providers in other parts of the state – in total, Texas will distribute a total of about 200,000 doses of vaccine next week to large and small providers across the state.
“The vaccine remains limited based on the ability of manufacturers to produce it, so it will take time for Texas to receive enough vaccine for people in priority populations who want to be vaccinated,” said the DSHS. “Supply is expected to increase in the coming months, and additional vaccines are in clinical trials and can be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.”
The week of January 11 is the last week in which the state is required to reserve doses to vaccinate residents and staff of long-term institutions under the federal pharmacy-LTC partnership, meaning that the following week more vaccines will be released for use in other configurations.
Katy Blakey of NBC 5 contributed to this report.