Editor's Note: This article, originally published Feb. 23, was updated Feb. 26 with additional information.
A COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center has opened in Arlington to assist the City of Arlington and Tarrant County in ongoing efforts to protect public health during the coronavirus pandemic.
The White House announced on Feb. 10 that Arlington would be one of three Texas cities to host a large-scale vaccination center for the state. The site in Arlington will be open for the next four weeks inside Globe Life Field starting Friday, Feb. 26, and then will transition to inside AT&T Stadium to provide first-dose and second-dose COVID-19 vaccines to people who are registered through the Tarrant County Public Health website and meet the current state priority vaccine eligibility requirements. The site will be open seven days a week and is expected to provide approximately 21,000 shots a week, mostly to people over the age of 65 or who have certain chronic health conditions that place them at higher risk.
The Arlington Fire Department and American Medical Response, with collaboration from the Rangers and the Cowboys, have been working with state and federal partners to ready Globe Life Field and AT&T Stadium for the indoor mass vaccination site operations.
“The City of Arlington greatly appreciates the additional state and federal support in our fight against the coronavirus, as well as the partnership with the Cowboys and Rangers to help us host this additional mass vaccination effort. This collaboration means that thousands more people in our community will be protected from the virus, further reducing the strain on our local hospitals and allowing for us to return to normalcy more quickly,” Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams said.
“The Texas Rangers are honored to work with the City of Arlington, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and FEMA in the utilization of Globe Life Field as a major COVID-19 vaccination site. We look forward to assisting thousands of individuals in getting vaccinated over the next several weeks,” said Rob Matwick, Texas Rangers Executive Vice President for Business Operations.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to utilize AT&T Stadium as a vaccination center in the coming weeks. Our stadium employees and our entire organization are looking forward to assisting the City of Arlington, Tarrant County, the State of Texas, and the federal government in providing a safe and productive environment to serve our community and help our citizens stay healthy,” Dallas Cowboys Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones said.
At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Marines and Sailors from 1st Marine Logistics group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, deployed from Camp Pendleton, Calif., to Arlington to operate the FEMA-supported vaccination site. U.S. Army North, the Joint Force Land Component Command of U.S Northern Command, will oversee the military COVID19 response operation in support of state and federal vaccination efforts. Approximately 140 personnel from 1st Marine Logistics group, largely comprised of vaccinators, registered nurses, and other military medical professionals, will begin work at the Globe Life Field vaccine site this week.
The Marines and Sailors are joining a larger effort of U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force military medical personnel under Army North’s Task Force 46. This task force is currently providing ongoing medical support to five hospitals in five cities within California, Arizona, Texas, and the Navajo Nation.
Support Youth and Families, Coronavirus
News, Community, Public Safety, Fire, Government