Fort Worth drive-thru COVID vaccine sites coming soon as county, UNT center near deal
You don’t want to see how sausage or legislation get made, the adage goes.
Add a third messy process that’s hard to watch: Complex deals between public entities.
The effort by Tarrant County and the UNT Health Science Center to agree on how to expand local coronavirus vaccinations seemed endangered in recent days. But County Administrator G.K. Maenius said Friday that he expects the deal to be final soon, perhaps in time for county commissioners to sign off in their meeting Tuesday.
There’s important practical news, too, for residents hunting for any place to get vaccinated. Maenius told the Editorial Board that the county has a deal in place with the Fort Worth school district to set up a drive-thru clinic near Farrington Field that could inoculate as many as 2,500 people per day. It’s a small program, he said, that will help determine the logistics for future drive-thru operations. Maenius said it could be in place by next weekend.
“We’re trying to learn how to be as efficient as possible so we can set up larger vaccination sites and not have to go through a trial and error period,” he said.
The Fort Worth ISD announced later Friday that it’s also agreed to allow a site at the Wilkerson-Greines Activities Center in southeast Fort Worth. Its board will consider the matter Tuesday.
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HSC officials confirmed that the deal with Tarrant County for the science center to take control of daily operations of an expanded vaccination effort is on track.
“We have experts who are excited and want to help,” spokeswoman Laken Rapier said.
As previously described, the health science center’s role will be massive; County Commissioner Roy Brooks has called it “command and control.” It encompasses standing up new sites and mobile clinics, expanding outreach and communication, and coordinating the vast manpower needed to potentially inoculate hundreds of thousands of Tarrant County adults.
Maenius defended the county’s effort so far, noting that its four current vaccination hubs are able to provide more doses daily than Tarrant can get from the state.
“The question is what happens if we get this big surge” of vaccines, he said. That’s where HSC comes in.
“Tarrant County is not only on top of it, we’ve surpassed being on top of it,” Maenius said. “We’re ready.”
There will be time later to dissect the county’s initial performance and look for improvements for the next public health crisis. For now, the urgent need is to get as many needles into arms as quick as possible — and to better reach vulnerable and underserved populations. And it’s clear the county needs significant help to do that.
Communication remains a huge issue. What’s needed, frankly, is a marketing effort to convince more Tarrant County residents, especially minorities, that the vaccine is safe, effective and necessary. Recent national polls show a discouraging number of people remain skeptical, and reaching them is a priority.
Maenius noted that, when all is said and done, private sector hospitals and pharmacies will end up administering more vaccines than government. Until those efforts come on line, it’s up to the county — and soon, HSC — to be creative and use every resource available.
If manpower is an issue, tap more retired or unemployed nurses and nursing students. If distribution and logistics are a problem, ask companies that live and die by efficiency to recommend improvements. Get every hospital chain involved, now.
For individuals, getting the vaccine remains a test of persistence and luck. Sign up everywhere you can. Register on the county’s website, and neighboring counties’ as well, if you’re willing to drive. Check with big pharmacy chains, such as CVS and Walmart.
No one should suggest that a widespread vaccination effort is easy. What’s important is learning as we go and taking advantage of any good idea that comes along. Every obstacle to getting enough people inoculated to reach herd immunity, bring the virus under control and finally allow society to resume with something close to normalcy must be defeated.
And lessons must be learned. There were plenty of mistakes along the way in public health and messaging. When the next pandemic comes, we must do better.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 12:16 PM.