COVID-19 vaccination site opening in Fort Worth’s Stop Six. Here’s how to sign up
The anticipated Stop Six coronavirus vaccination site will open Tuesday with the goal to vaccinate 1,000 people during its first week, officials said Monday.
Vaccinations will be by appointment only. Tarrant County Public Health will contact individuals by phone and email. The site will open at 9 a.m. at Brighter Outlook Inc. on 4910 Dunbar St.
The county will focus on those who live in Stop Six and encourage people in the neighborhood to sign up, a county spokesperson said. As of Monday, 2,431 of the area’s 22,000 residents had signed up for the vaccine.
UNT Health Science Center students will also be on site to register those who need to sign up and have difficulties with the process. People can also register on the county’s website or call 817-248-6299.
Public Health received 18,190 doses from the state this week, the most it has received to date.
The historically Black Stop Six neighborhood ranks among the county’s lowest vaccinated neighborhoods with a vaccination rate of 3.52% as of Monday, according to county data.
The new vaccination site is a product of the partnership between Tarrant County and UNT Health Science Center, which aims to vaccinate more people in minority neighborhoods and combat vaccine hesitancy that has been seen in the Black and Latino communities.
UNT Health Science Center officials will look to open a site in north Fort Worth, close to the county’s largely Hispanic Diamond Hill neighborhood.
Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks said in a statement that the site is “precisely what was needed to reach communities who have not had adequate access to the vaccine.”
“We already know through some of our outreach efforts that you can achieve dramatic improvements with a concerted effort,” Commissioner Brooks said in the statement. “This is an excellent start in our collaboration with HSC to get shots in the arms of all Tarrant County residents.”
The Tarrant County commissioners agreed to pay the UNT Health Science Center $2.5 million for UNTHSC officials to begin their work on Feb. 9. The cost of the partnership could reach $25 million.
“HSC is excited to partner with Tarrant County and leaders in the Stop Six community to bring this vaccination opportunity directly to the people who live here,” said Dr. Sylvia Trent-Adams, HSC chief strategy officer, in a statement. “It has truly been a community effort to make this site a reality.”
OptumServe, a national veteran-led health care services business, was tapped by UNTHSC and will provide staffing, personal protective equipment, logistics support and secure technology essential to coordinating vaccination services. The provider has established hundreds of large-scale community-based COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites across 22 states over the last year.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 5:22 PM.
