DALLAS (1080 KRLD)- A vaccination hub operated by the City of Dallas opened Thursday in a parking lot outside Potter's House church. The hub will vaccinate 1,000 people a day Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The hub is operating as a drive-thru in a parking lot across Kiest Boulevard from the church. Rocky Vaz, Dallas' emergency management director, says a survey showed 95% of people who responded preferred a drive-thru vaccination site.
"For their own safety, they felt better about not having to park their vehicles and then walk and wait in line," Vaz says.
Those who rely on Dallas Area Rapid Transit can still be vaccinated at other sites in Dallas County. The city and county are pulling names from the same database.
The City of Dallas is contracting with the ambulance provider, AMR, to staff the site. The city plans to transition away from use of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Vaz says people who received their first dose of the vaccine at the convention center will return there for their second dose, but leaving the convention center and contracting with AMR will free up firefighters to return to their regular duties.
"As we get more vaccines, we might have to engage them back, depending on how many vaccines we get and the capability and capacity of vendors," Vaz says. "We are looking at additional vendors as this thing grows."
Vaz says the City of Dallas will receive another 3,000 doses of the vaccine next week. He says the city will return to the Potter's House next Thursday, Friday and Saturday but is also scouting other locations to make the vaccine accessible to more people as the supply grows.
He says the city and Dallas County are also working together to develop another database to handle vaccinations of teachers and child care employees, which were approved to be vaccinated by the Department of State Health Services Wednesday.
Mayor Eric Johnson says Governor Greg Abbott's announcement ending the state-wide mask requirement and capacity restrictions next Wednesday brings additional urgency to vaccine's distribution.
"With the governor's announcement this week, it's now more important than ever that we get these vaccines out and we get them out to as many people as we possibly can, as quickly as we possibly can," says Mayor Eric Johnson.
Johnson says he is working with the Dallas city attorney to craft a local ordinance requiring masks in government buildings.
"I have not seen any information, any, that suggests we are at a point in the vaccination rate to where we should be lifting any mask orders," he says.
Johnson says he has also been in touch with the Dallas Regional Chamber to encourage businesses to keep requiring masks on their own.
"I want to see the private sector and local governments do everything they can to fill that gap that's been created by the removal of the state order," he says.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says hospitals in the 19 county area around DFW had a total of 1,279 COVID-19 patients Wednesday using 7.61% of capacity. March 1, hospitals in the area had 1,455 COVID-19 patients and more than 3,000 at the beginning of February.
