As the FDA considers emergency authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Dallas County is making preparations to start vaccinations as soon as possible.
“We are getting ready to give those first shots at Parkland as soon as we are able to do so,” County Judge Clay Jenkins said. “I have asked our people to work hard to be the first to get that shot. I think that lets the people of North Texas know that hope is on the way.”
After Parkland healthcare workers the limited vaccines will continue throughout at-risk demographics.
“We’ll be sending out teams to the nursing homes led by CVS and Walgreens so that we get those residents inoculated and also the people that work at the nursing homes,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said even while Pfizer vaccinations are taking place there is still an eye toward to future.
“You have around nine of these vaccines in the pipeline,” Jenkins said. “As they get approved and as all of the approved ones ramp up production, we are going to be able to get more and more vaccines out there and work our way through that list in a very equitable way so that we don’t have line-jumpers and so that people who are most at risk are getting it first.”
Dr. Philip Huang, Dallas County Director of Health and Human Services, said we would not likely see widespread vaccine availability to the general public until 2021 between July and October.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“It is going to take a while, but it is a start and very exciting, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we can’t let up. That message needs to be out there that we need to persevere through this,” Huang said.
“We are still looking for providers that serve various important populations to make sure that those physicians and groups are signed up so that they can be part of delivery system here,” Huang added.
