AT&T Stadium to be used as a COVID-19 vaccination site, White House says
Arlington’s AT&T Stadium will be used as a federally-supported COVID-19 vaccination site, Gov. Greg Abbott and the White House announced Wednesday.
The site and others at Fair Park in Dallas and NRG Stadium in Houston will be able to administer more than 10,000 shots each day combined, according to the White House. The sites will be operated by FEMA in partnership with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and local officials.
FEMA will supply the vaccines for the pilot sites, and they won’t come from the state’s existing allotment, Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Douglas Loveday said in an email.
“These mass community sites will allow us to expand access to COVID-19 vaccinations in underserved communities and help us mitigate the spread of the virus,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement.
Details about signing up for appointments at the sites, which are expected to open Feb. 24, will be released in the coming days, Abbott’s office said.
“The goal of establishing these joint federal pilot centers is to continue to expand the rate of vaccinations in an efficient, effective and equitable manner, with an explicit focus on making sure that communities with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection are not left behind,” the White House said in a news release.
President Joe Biden’s national plan for COVID-19 response, released shortly after he took office, included the establishment of federally supported community vaccination centers, like the ones soon coming to Texas.
State Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Fort Worth, urged the administration to set up a site in Tarrant County or Fort Worth. In the Feb. 5 letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security, said there’s an “urgent need” to expand vaccination capacity in the community.
“Swift action is critical to ensure that qualified Tarrant County residents receive a vaccine, regardless of racial, ethnic, religious or socioeconomic status,” Powell said.
Texas announced Tuesday that about 2.5 million people in the state have been vaccinated with at least one dose. About 843,000 are fully vaccinated.
In Tarrant County, more than 139,000 people have gotten at least one shot, and nearly 47,000 are fully vaccinated, according to the state numbers.
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 11:15 AM.
