Dallas Fair Park mega-site begins vaccinating people 50 and older

DALLAS - People 50 and over began getting vaccinated Monday. So far at Dallas Fair Park, adding more eligible people to the mix has been a fairly smooth process.

59-year-old Audria Holman got her vaccine.

"It took off from work. Thought it was going to be that," she said. "But it was just boom, boom, boom, and it’s done."

Those in line on Monday benefited from improved traffic flow. Others added to the growing online list of anxious, hopeful recipients.

"We’ve had over 730,000 people register on the website," said DCHHS spokesperson Christian Grisales. "And we’re doing about 35,000 shots a week. About 1,100 an hour."

The goal is to keep ramping up. Organizers say they are also expecting more Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but it will take quite a bit more vaccine, in general, to hit site capacity.

The current 35,000 shots a week could scale up to as many as 50,000 allowing the site to stay open seven days a week.

This week, the state received 800,000 doses, which is down from previous weeks. But Dallas County’s allotment increased.

Dallas County says the biggest issue is people coming for their second shot before they're due. It's asking people not to do that because it contributes to traffic and may take away from someone who is scheduled that day.