From the beginning, our mission with the Denton County vaccination clinics has been to reach everyone and anyone who would like to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
That single goal has been the driving force behind our efforts from the first clinic at CH Collins in January to the massive effort at the Texas Motor Speedway these past few months and, now, our neighborhood clinics currently underway.
We were blessed with the many volunteers who helped make our vaccination efforts at TMS a tremendous success. In three months, we were able to give more than 371,000 vaccinations to our residents, setting records and establishing a strong base toward reaching herd immunity.
Our community partners and residents were critical in making this happen and we cannot thank them enough. I personally want to thank the cities and towns of Denton County for sharing their resources with us, sending police officers, firefighters, staff and asking residents to help us with our vaccination clinics.
The mayors, councilmembers and city/town managers in each of these communities did not hesitate a second. They not only sent staff but several also donated time themselves, volunteering to help guide the thousands of cars arriving daily to receive shots. They truly are the very definition of public servants.
Recently, we launched several clinics to reach our underserved populations in Denton County, first at the Salvation Army in Lewisville and Our Daily Bread/The Junction of Denton County in Denton for our homeless population. That effort was a great success. We also held a clinic in Lewisville for the Chin population. We also planned a clinic at Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home in Denton to serve those youngsters ages 12-15 and older as well as at the Lewisville ISD Career Center. And we are planning even more clinics as you read this, working again with our towns and cities as well as our school districts and others.
As summer sits on the horizon, we are planning indoor clinics to help keep volunteers and staff cool while providing vaccinations in smaller, more convenient locations.
With this new phase of neighborhood clinics, we also opened our self-scheduling system to allow individuals who sign up on the Vaccine Interest Portal at dentoncounty.gov to select their own dates and times to receive vaccinations from among the scheduled clinics. Individuals who sign up on the portal will receive texts or emails with a link to the self-scheduler. If they cannot attend the available clinics and times the first week, they are welcome to re-visit the site in ensuing weeks until they find an appointment that is most convenient for their schedules.
We understand how busy everyone is now that offices are reopening, schools are ending the academic year and summer vacation plans are resuming. Yet we also know how important it is that everyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccine has access to it so that we can reach our goal of herd immunity to stop COVID-19 from resurging to levels we saw last year.
As a county of almost 900,000 residents and growing daily, we hope to ensure that all residents can avail themselves of the vaccine while resuming their normal lives.
I feel fortunate to be part of a countywide collaboration that is helping all of us stay #DentonCountyStrong!
Connect With Us: Be sure and connect with Denton County on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DentonCountyTX and on Twitter @DentonCountyTX. You can also follow me at www.facebook.com/DentonCountyCommissionerBobbieMitchell
If you have any questions or comments, please let me hear from you. My email is [email protected] and my office number is 972-434-4780.
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