Starting this week, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center will act as a new COVID-19 vaccination hub.
The state has opened several new hubs, including some in Burnet, Navarro, Gregg and Montgomery counties. Director of Emergency Management Rocky Vaz says the new site in Dallas is needed.
"For us, being able to open another site [will] add to the number of vaccines that we are give to the citizens here in Dallas County and other counties," Vaz says. "And then be ready and prepared to ramp it up as more vaccines come."
In Dallas County, there are vaccination hubs at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas County Health and Human Services, Parkland Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, the City of Garland Health Department and now, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
The new hub serves as a drive-thru, appointment based vaccination site. City officials are notifying residents who are eligible for the vaccine. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson says shots are being administered efficiently and fairly.
"We will never revert to our personal networks," Johnson says. " … none of that is going to happen in the City of Dallas."
Dallas has been allotted 5,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this week, separate from allocations to the county and other health care providers. The vaccines will be administered by Dallas-Fire Rescue.
