Dallas County Health and Human Services expects to open a COVID-19 vaccine mega center in Fair Park next week with the ability 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 Monday, but that may depend on when they get the next batch of vaccine from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Vaccines will only be administered to those on the DCHHS waiting list and by appointment only – they will not be given to the general public or walk-ups. Dallas County is currently only vaccinating those in Phase 1A, but expects to start vaccinating those in Phase 1B when the mega center opens next week.
The county also plans to vaccinate up to 1,000 people a day at Ellis Davis Field House and Eastfield College, in addition to the 2,000 people a day at the Fair Park mega-center.
The COVID-19 vaccine is currently only being administered to those who are part of stages 1A and 1B, as outlined by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Those in phase 1A are primary health workers or residents of long-term care facilities. Stage 1B includes those over the age of 65, or those over the age of 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 of the first injection, but full protection cannot occur 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 provide 100% protection.
The Fair Park vaccine mega center comes as the state health service begins sending vaccines to suppliers who can vaccinate more than 100,000 people at large-scale vaccination centers.
“Providers who receive larger amounts of the vaccine will vaccinate health professionals, people 65 and older, and those with medical conditions that increase their risk of serious illness or death. They also agree to provide a registration phone number and website. and focus on areas and populations most affected by COVID-19 while vaccinating people from surrounding areas, ”the DSHS said in a prepared statement.
The Texas DSHS said they will publish the full list of vaccine hub providers later this week, once vaccine allocations are finalized.
Additional vaccines will continue to be distributed to smaller suppliers in other parts of the state – in total, Texas will distribute a total of about 200,000 doses of vaccine to both large and small suppliers statewide next week.
“Vaccine remains limited based on manufacturers’ capacity to produce it, so it will take time for Texas to get enough vaccine for the people in the priority populations who want to be vaccinated,” the DSHS said. “Supply is expected to increase in the coming months, and additional vaccines are in clinical trials and may be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.”
The week of Jan. 11 is the last week that the state must reserve doses to vaccinate residents and staff of long-term care facilities under the federal pharmacy-LTC partnership, meaning more vaccines will be released the following week for use in other settings.
NBC 5’s Katy Blakey contributed to this report.