San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff have sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) asking for a mass vaccination site to be set up in San Antonio.
The mayor and judge in the letter told the federal government that Bexar County has the capacity for the site and the county is ready to increase vaccination distribution.
The local leaders said one our current vaccination sites, the Alamodome, has not received first new dose allocations in nearly three weeks. They said without many more vaccines, the site may have to close.
The letter written to Regional Administrator Tony Robinson said, "Thank you for taking the time to join the call with Dr. Colleen Bridger, Chief Charles Hood and the rest of the City team on February 9, 2021.We are appreciative of the longstanding partnership with you and your team.
We are writing to formally request your assistance in locating a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mass vaccination site in the San Antonio region. We have the capacity, readiness, and need to increase vaccination distribution and administration. We urge you to make San Antonio the next community to host one of these sites and to set up the site as quickly as possible. If FEMA cannot or will not locate a site in our community at this time, please send us additional vaccine supply so we can establish the site ourselves. One of our current mass vaccination clinics – the Alamodome –has not received new first dose allocations in nearly three weeks; without additional supply, it will have to close.
We applaud the work of President Biden and FEMA to increase the availability of COVID-19vaccines to underserved communities in the three planned pilot sites in Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas. The need in our region is just as great. In addition to being the third most populous area in the state,
Bexar County is ranked first in the Centers for Disease Control’s Social Vulnerability Index.
This index measures a community’s need for support to prepare and respond to events such as the current pandemic and considers factors such as poverty, access to transportation, housing, and healthcare. Our community’s vulnerability is also reflected in the ultimate impact of COVID-19. Bexar County has suffered more deaths per capita than the other large population centers in the state
Our organizations and partners have successfully established four large vaccinations centers across our community, prioritizing high risk groups and those most in need. We have continually innovated by using Community Health Prevention teams to go door-to-door to register eligible residents in targeted areas and utilizing Meals on Wheels to vaccinate homebound seniors. We request your full consideration and expedient action in the establishment of a federally supported mass vaccination site in San Antonio."