Dallas County Fixes Glitch That Left Prime COVID-19 Vaccination Appointments Up For Grabs
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Another 1,200 North Texans received their COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday, Jan. 12 at Dallas' Fair Park.
"It was easy! Doesn't hurt," said Kate Moore, after she and her husband got their shots.
Recipients appeared to give the county's new mega site overwhelmingly good reviews.
"They were very courteous," said Annie Bonner.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, though, blasted what he witnessed on the site's opening day Monday.
In a statement, he wrote the "vaccination site was 'strategically' located… to increase access to historically underserved and 'high risk' communities… but few recipients were underserved and fewer yet lived nearby…"
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says seniors 75 and older living within the county's hardest hit zip codes were supposed to get first crack at appointments.
By late Monday, the county noticed many others had managed to grab slots and discovered web links for patients to schedule their vaccination had been shared widely online.
"We had a lot of people in North Dallas who were not contacted by us but had been had it forwarded to them and had found a way to get an appointment," said Judge Jenkins.
Jenkins says the problem has been fixed, and Tuesday night the county sent 2,000 e-mails to seniors in targeted zip codes offering allowing them to select a time to be vaccinated on Wednesday or Thursday.
"You're going to see a much more diverse mix of people," said Jenkins.
The federal government today also announced changes to the way it is distributing the vaccine. It will soon give more doses to states that can show they are quickly using the vaccine they've already received.
"It gives states a strong incentive to make sure doses are going to work protecting people rather thans sitting on shelves or in freezers," said US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar.
The government also said, now that the vaccine is in steady supply, it will stop holding back a portion of what it receives to ensure there's enough for second doses.
That decision is expected to greatly increase availability of the vaccine in coming weeks.
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