Mayor Turner to get first dose of Moderna vaccine on Monday

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston’s first public COVID-19 vaccine site was fully booked for the second day in the row on Sunday, and people are still calling in to make an appointment for Monday and the rest of the week.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced he will also be getting his first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Monday, Jan. 4. He visited with residents scheduled to receive the vaccine at the Bayou City Event Center on Sunday.

“[On Saturday], we did more than we had projected … 1,008 received the vaccine,” said Turner. “That exceeded our initial number. [On Sunday], we’re expecting anywhere from 800 to 900 to get the vaccine.”

In a tweet posted by Turner on Sunday, a total of 986 people were vaccinated.

Those who were able to get through the Houston Health Department’s COVID-19 call center and successfully schedule an appointment received their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. Afterwards, they were monitored for about 15 to 30 minutes to see if they experienced any side effects.

“We couldn’t wait to come,” said a Houston resident. “Matter of fact, we were on the phone [Saturday] for, I guess, close to four hours trying to get signed in.”

According to the state’s health department’s vaccine data dashboard, as of Sunday, Jan. 3, Harris County received 192,600 vaccinations to distribute and has administered at least 56,642 first doses.

Turner said the city is trying to increase the amount of doses administered each day at its public vaccination site. The city’s also working to open additional mass sites in the future. However, he said there are challenges ahead.

“We need the dollars from the last stimulus package to get here as quickly as possible,” he explained. “As you know, they didn’t pass that until the end of the year … the very end. So, a lot of this hampering the ability to ramp up to hire significantly more people, because in order to have all of these sites, you need to really have ubiquitous vaccinations, widespread vaccinations. You need more staffing, quite a bit, and the ability to set up mobile sites and the ability to go to people’s homes to actually vaccinate them.”

If you meet the requirements to get your first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of Phase 1B and want to make an appointment at the city’s public vaccination clinic, you can call the city’s health department’s COVID-19.

The clinic is housed at the Bayou City Event Center, located at 9401 Knight Rd.