Dallas County: 37% of Adult Residents 65 And Older Fully Vaccinated

As vaccine eligibility expanded to those aged 50 and older Monday, Dallas County reported 37% of people aged 65 and older in the county were fully vaccinated as of March 14.

“This week we will have less vaccine at Fair Park than we have in weeks. Today we will vaccinate approximately 8,000 people for first doses and only a few thousand for first doses for the rest of the week,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Monday. “It is our hope that the State will work with the federal government and restore the shots that they have diverted from Dallas and Tarrant counties over the last four weeks. This week the State diverted additional shots from Dallas and Tarrant counties, making it harder for our residents to make an appointment to get vaccinated.”

As of March 14, the Texas Tribune reports 9.9% of Texans were fully vaccinated, which exceeds the percentage of people who have tested positive for the virus.

Vaccine operations for both first and second doses at Fair Park resumed Monday. Since the site opened in January, over 161,000 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered at the Fair Park mega-vaccine clinic.  

As the inoculation campaign continues, Dallas County Monday reported 574 more COVID-19 cases — 379 confirmed cases and 195 probable — and 10 additional deaths. Among the deaths reported Monday were a Garland woman in her 30s and a Garland man in his 40s. 

Last week, Dallas County also reported a case of the B.1.526 variant first identified in New York in a county resident with no history of travel outside of the county. 

To date, nine cases of the B.1.1.7 first identified in the U.K. have been identified in residents of Dallas County. One was hospitalized and five had history of recent domestic travel outside of Texas.  

In other news:

• The first Texan died from COVID-19 a year ago Monday. Since then, more than 45,000 deaths followed, and the pandemic’s not over. The Texas Tribune also tracked the path of the pandemic in the state. We created an interactive timeline of the pandemic’s trajectory through the county as well.
• Dallas residents can call a recreation center located within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) priority zip code to register, and once registered, they will get information on when to arrive at a designated pickup location to be driven to the vaccination site at Fair Park. 
• At least 57 Texans died as a result of the February winter storm, including two in Collin County, the Dallas Morning News reported.
• The Texas Senate passed a bill authorizing the Public Utility Commission to reverse $16 billion in electricity charges that ran up during the winter storm. The bill now moves to the House.