Mass vaccine site at NRG Park vaccinates 100 people in soft opening
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- There is some hope for Houstonians after a week of devastation capping off a crippling year for most.
"It's been trauma after trauma and people deserve some good news, some hope," said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
That hope is 11 lanes of cones marking out a massive drive-through vaccination operation. Under massive tents, 6,000 people a day will be vaccinated, seven days a week. On Tuesday, 100 people were vaccinated as part of the operations soft launch.
In a joint operation between Harris County, Houston and FEMA the mega vaccine site at NRG Park will fully vaccinate 126,000 people over the next six weeks.
The clinic even spurring hope in pragmatic vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez.
"I'm really excited. If all the stars align and we do everything right, we can fully vaccinate the adult population of Houston or Texas or the United States. We could be looking, I don't want to say completely normal, but a far better quality of life than we've had," said Hotez.
But leaders are quick to remind us that it will take millions of vaccines to reach that better quality of life.
"We need nine million doses administered in our broader region in order to reach herd immunity," said Hidalgo.
Across the state, about 1.4 million Texans have been fully vaccinated. The vaccination operation at NRG Park will fully open Wednesday for those who qualify and have an appointment.
Harris County and the City of Houston are using their waitlist to contact people and create appointments. You can register on the city's Emergency Operation Center's website.
