The Texas Department of State Health Services says 325,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered 949 providers across the state this week. The Dallas and Tarrant County health departments are now planning for expanded availability.
In Dallas County, Judge Clay Jenkins says about 85,000 people have received their first shot.
"That's three percent of our population. We need to get to about 75% of our population before we can have what we call, 'herd immunity'," he says.
Jenkins says Dallas County is now planning mobile sites, and he expects to receive about 2,000 doses a day starting next week.
In Tarrant County, a vaccination site has opened at the ESports Stadium in Arlington. The Arlington Fire Department says it has received 4,500 doses of the vaccine.
Reservations are required in Tarrant County, and vaccinations have only been available to people who meet criteria and live in in the county, but Judge Glen Whitley says some people have been pulling in from other counties and getting in line.
"Somebody gets up there, they've been waiting in line in the rain for a couple hours. Do we want to say, 'No, we're not going to give it to you, now'? So, they gave it to them, and I guess what that did is it kept encouraging people to go, regardless of whether they had an appointment," Whitley says.
Whitley says Tarrant County is working with the state and could open up to four other sites. He says each site could handle 1,500 to 2,000 people a day.
"A lot of the county public health departments have really scrambled to set up websites and set up information to better explain to the people how this is going to be done," says Stephen Love, president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council.
In addition to 325,000 doses being shipped across Texas, DSHS says an additional 224,250 second doses will be provided for people who had their first dose the week of December 14.
Even as more of the vaccine arrives, Love says people will have to keep wearing masks and social distancing through the summer.
"Don't let the vaccines give you a false sense of security. We're so thankful we have them, but we're going to have to wear masks and do all these things for the next six to eight months. We're going to have to continue to continue that practice so we tamp down the spread of this virus," he says. "I know it's frustrating, but we're going to get through it."
