The City of Dallas is starting vaccinations on two levels of a parking garage outside Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Thursday morning. The city has received 5,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine and is opening a vaccination hub.
With the designation as a "hub," the convention center is open to any resident of Texas. People can register online.
Dallas Fire Rescue will have 80 people working at 16 tables at the convention center. They plan to vaccinate 200 people an hour, nine hours a day through Saturday.
"This system is built to be expandable and fluid, so if we start seeing that we need more vaccinations and tables, we'll be able to bring more people and set up those tables while we're in the middle of the process," says Battalion Chief Scott Pacot.
People with appointments will line up in a parking lot across the street. Dallas police will run traffic control, guiding cars into the garage.
"We're in the coldest months in Texas, correct?" Pacot says. "We're looking for the best shelter for everyone who's working, everyone who's getting the vaccination and to build the best and safest environment we can for it."
Once inside the garage, cars will be split into two lines and then assigned a station to get their vaccination. People will be told to open a door for the vaccination; they will never get out of the car.
The City of Dallas is also vaccinating police and firefighters at the convention center. That operation is also a drive-thru on a different level of the garage.
"I just want to say how excited the city and Dallas Fire Rescue are to begin to participate in this critically important endeavor, to get as many vaccines into the arms of as many of the most vulnerable members of our community as quickly as possible," says Marshal Isaacs, medical director of Dallas Fire Rescue.
Police and firefighters are getting their second dose of the vaccine. The City of Dallas hopes to fully vaccinate half its police and firefighters by the end of the day Saturday.
