Thousands Of North Texans To Receive 2nd Dose COVID-19 Vaccine This Week
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - COVID-19 vaccination efforts in North Texas are getting back on track after last week's winter storms forced them to cancel appointments.
"We're trying to catch up as a quickly as we can," said Dr. Matt Richardson, director of Denton County Public Health.
Dr. Richardson says the good news is it doesn't matter if people don't get their second dose on their exact day of eligibility.
"It's okay for that second dose to be delayed by a few days – even a few weeks, according to the CDC," he said. "And this week, we're back."
Denton County is opening up its hub at Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday, Feb. 24, but all three days will be for second doses only.
"So we're hoping that by the end of the week, or even the beginning of next week, we're going to be caught up in Denton County on second doses that are eligible," Dr. Richardson said.
Tarrant County Public Health is already caught up, running clinics over the weekend to give the second dose to people whose appointments were canceled by the weather.
Dallas County resumed its efforts at Fair Park Sunday and Monday, but Tuesday's vaccinations are cancelled because the doses didn't arrive on Monday.
Dallas and Tarrant Counties say second doses are all they'll be able to give this week because the state cut their allocations for first doses.
"The governor has diverted 42,000 shots a week from Dallas and Tarrant combined," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
That's how much federal teams are bringing in this week to open up super site operations at Fair Park in Dallas and Globe Life Field in Arlington.
"The bottom line is we were told our weekly allocations would not suffer as a result of the deal we were making to help the feds get ready and bring extra vaccine into the area," said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley.
Whitley says that's not what happened, and if the state doesn't increase their weekly allotment, clinics across the county will be forced to shut down.
"All those folks will have to find a way to get to AT&T or Globe Life Field, so it's going to be a tremendous inconvenience on many of our citizens," he said.
FEMA plans to begin vaccinations at Fair Park on Wednesday and at Globe Life Field on Friday.
