21K Shots A Week: COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center Opens At Globe Life Field

ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center will open in Arlington on Friday 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 was one of three Texas cities to host a large-scale vaccination center for the state.

"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 site in Arlington will remain open for the next four weeks at Globe Life Field Feb. 26, and then will transition to 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 mass vaccination site operations.

"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.

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 in Task Force Arlington 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.