Bid for mass vaccination site is denied
FEMA’S decision came same day S.A.’S request came in
When federal officials announced plans for mass vaccination hubs in Texas cities, San Antonio officials were not shy about asking for one.
If Houston, Dallas and Arlington qualified, why not San Antonio, the nation’s seventh-largest city?
Now it’s official: There will be no federal vaccination center here, and it didn’t take long for officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make the decision.
In fact, they rejected the request the same day they received it, records show.
San Antonio is the largest city in Texas without a FEMA “supersite” capable of administering up to 6,000 shots per day.
In February, FEMA partnered with Texas officials to establish three mega-sites in Houston and the Dallas-fort Worth area. Officials said then that if the approach proved successful, sites could be opened in other areas — and San Antonio leaders asked for one even before the first three hubs were fully operational.
It would have been located at the Alamodome.
“We have the capacity, readiness and need to increase vaccination distribution and administration,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said in a letter to FEMA officials last month.
State officials submitted the request to FEMA on the city’s behalf March 19. The agency rejected it the same day, according to records obtained by the San Antonio Express-news.
“FEMA does not have the resources to support this request,” agency officials said by email.
State officials then asked whether the federal government could tap resources of the Defense Department to support an additional mass vaccination site in Texas — only to receive a similar response, said Seth Christensen, a spokesman for the state Department of Emergency Management.
“All federal resources are being considered and used,” FEMA replied. The federal agency said vaccination centers “are being spun up and operated all over the nation, and the resources are drying up fast.”
A FEMA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Wolff said Friday that the city is in a “race” to vaccinate as many people as possible. The city already operates a mass vaccination site at the Alamodome. It could establish a separate mega-site, Wolff said, but that would not solve the problem of inadequate supplies of vaccine.
“We just need the vaccines,”
he said.
Under the current distribution system, the federal government provides doses directly to FEMA’S mass vaccination centers. The state receives a separate weekly allocation of vaccine, which it doles out to county public health systems, hospitals and other providers.
So far, San Antonio has received allocations only from the state.
“I don’t know what they mean by resources — if they mean they don’t have the vaccines or they don’t have the personnel,” Wolff said of FEMA officials. “If they don’t have the personnel, it doesn’t matter. We just want the vaccines.”
He said local officials will continue to lobby for a FEMA supersite and are considering other proposals for a mass vaccination hub.
Like communities across the country, San Antonio has struggled with a mismatch between vaccine supply and demand. Appointments at vaccination hubs operated by the city, countyowned University Health and other providers are snapped up as soon as they become available.
People both eligible and eager to be vaccinated must refresh webpages endlessly or redial phone numbers for hours to snag open appointments.
Vaccine supplies have ramped up recently, but so has demand as the state has expanded eligibility — first to people over 50 and then to any adult in Texas, effective Monday.
FEMA’S three Texas mega-sites are at Houston’s NRG Stadium, Dallas’ Fair Park and Arlington’s AT&T Stadium.
Combined, the sites have administered as many as 12,000 doses a day — 6,000 a day at the Houston site and 3,000 apiece at the Dallas-fort Worth locations. They began administering first shots Feb. 24 and moved on to second doses this month.
The original agreement called for the sites to continue operating through early April. Texas officials have asked FEMA to extend operations for at least 30 more days. FEMA has not yet responded, Christensen said.
In a statement Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott called on FEMA to approve the request.
“The mass community vaccination sites in Arlington, Dallas and Houston have been crucial to expanding vaccine access in underserved communities,” he said. “Continuing operations at these vaccination sites will ensure that even more Texans can get vaccinated and will help keep our communities safe.”
On Wednesday, Harris County leaders urged the federal government to renew the Houston site at least through May 31.
“The success of the (center) in reaching communities that lack equitable access to the vaccine demonstrates the need for its continued operation,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner wrote in a letter to FEMA officials.
They said the sites are needed now more than ever because the state has opened up vaccine eligibility to all Texans age 16 and over.
Texas has administered more than 9.7 million doses since middecember. Nearly 6.6 million people have received at least one shot, and 3.3 million are fully immunized.
In Bexar County, 445,651 people had received at least one dose of vaccine as of Friday. Nearly 250,000 residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.