U.S. government partnering with Texas to build three mass vaccination sites

[February 11, 2021]  By Rebecca Spalding

(Reuters) - The federal government is partnering with the state of Texas to build three mass vaccination sites, following last week’s announcement that it would build such sites in California, federal health officials said during a Wednesday media briefing.

Each site will be able to administer 10,000 shots per day, according to Jeffrey Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, and should begin giving the shots by Feb. 22.

The sites will be in the Dallas and Houston areas and will be operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to a state news release. One site will be AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home to the Dallas Cowboys.

The federal government also plans to open vaccination hubs in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens on Feb. 24, each of which will be able to administer about 3,000 shots a day, Zients said in an announcement with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and sryinge are seen in front of displayed USA flag in this illustration taken, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Both the New York sites will receive special allocations of vaccines from the federal government, and are intended to benefit Black and Latino New Yorkers who have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic, Cuomo said.

Last week, the state of California said it was partnering with FEMA to open mass vaccination sites in Los Angeles and Oakland as a part of a pilot program started by President Joe Biden's administration.

Both states said the program's goal was to make sure people in underserved communities have access to vaccines.

(Reporting by Rebecca Spalding; Editing by Franklin Paul, Jonathan Oatis and Bernadette Baum)

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