Updated at 6:20 p.m. to include more details on the meeting.
Dallas officials say residents remain confused by the COVID-19 vaccination process.
The residents are not alone. Some City Council members said Monday that they were dealing with their own frustrations over public and internal communication about the rollout.
Several council members said issues with Dallas County’s communication about how and when people can get vaccinated at the Fair Park megasite, as well as the mayor’s tendency to reveal updates via news release, were causing lapses in informing people and contributing to residents not being helped as quickly as possible.
“The confusion is going to get worse, and there could be some anger,” said council member David Blewett. “Quite frankly, I don’t think we’re all on the same page, and it’s pretty obvious we’re not.
“I just don’t think we’re doing a very good job.”
The city and county are trying to ensure that the most vulnerable residents are able to register for and receive COVID-19 vaccinations, but the demand for vaccines is far greater than the supply. Preliminary data also shows disparities exist.
The mass vaccination site was established to address the lack of authorized providers of the vaccine in southern Dallas, where residents have been heavily affected by the virus.
As of Monday, more than 380,000 people had registered with Dallas County to receive the vaccine in Fair Park, and over 18,800 doses had been administered since the site opened Jan. 11.
The city will receive its own direct allocation of 5,000 doses from the state and plans to begin giving shots Thursday.
Rocky Vaz, Dallas’ emergency management director, said the city plans to vaccinate front-line health care workers, people 65 and older and those who have a chronic medical condition. A drive-through will be set up in a parking garage at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center downtown. He promised clear communication about how people are selected to receive the doses, when they need to come in and when they need to return for their second shot.
Vaz also said there would be a “frequently asked questions” section on the city’s website and a staff member dedicated to inform council members. At this point, he said, data has shown that proximity to vaccination centers doesn’t equal better access to the shots.
“We can plan those locations anywhere we want, but the challenge is we don’t have vaccines,” Vaz said. “Even if we set up sites, [residents] still have to follow the registration process, and there’s no guarantee that they will have any priority in getting vaccines at a particular site.”
Access to vaccine
Council members Chad West, Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon said they called a special meeting Monday night to discuss the vaccine distribution process, how council members communicate with one another, and whether to give City Manager T.C. Broadnax more authority during a state of emergency.
In the meeting, which went past midnight, the council voted 10-5 to let Broadnax authorize the use of city staff members, laptops, personal protection equipment and other city resources to help set up sites where people can sign up to get a vaccination appointment.
West, Bazaldua and Blackmon were among six council members who asked Broadnax last week for city staff to help set up the registration centers in their districts. To that point, they said, the online sign-up process had favored people who have computers and reliable internet access.
Mayor Eric Johnson told Broadnax to ignore the council members’ requests, saying that council members should have come to him and that data should determine where registration sites are placed.
Johnson later announced that the city would create vaccination registration sites in “underserved areas of the city.” As of Tuesday, the public still had not been told where those sites would be and when they would open.
Council members have either set up pop-up registration events or are working to do so. West, working with county officials and community volunteers, organized three registration events in north Oak Cliff last week where more than 700 people signed up to get vaccinations, he said.
Bazaldua said during Monday’s meeting that he was picking up 20 laptops from the county to hold registration events in his district. He accused Johnson of holding city laptops “hostage.”
State of emergency
In a 10-4 vote, the council rejected a proposal that would have called on Johnson to provide public updates to the council every two weeks on the city’s emergency response. Bazaldua didn’t vote.
A separate proposal, to designate Broadnax as coordinator of the city of Dallas’ emergency response during the pandemic, was withdrawn after some debate.
State law designates Johnson, in his role as mayor, as the one who oversees Dallas’ disaster response, giving him emergency powers such as developing and organizing plans for using city facilities, staff members, equipment and other resources.
The mayor is authorized to select another official to coordinate the response. The coordinator’s duties include recommending areas to be evacuated and instituting curfews. Johnson chose Vaz for the role. Vaz, as well as the rest of the city staff, typically reports to Broadnax. But in matters related to the city’s COVID-19 response under the state of emergency, Vaz reports directly to the mayor.
Council member Carolyn King Arnold said Broadnax was easier to work with than Johnson and more accountable to the City Council because they hired him. She said Johnson typically doesn’t communicate with council members outside of emails, public meetings and news conferences. She indicated that she and the mayor hadn’t spoken in a year.
“We need to just stop playing around and just face the fact that what we have here is this constant battle back and forth, and the fighting and the refusal of the mayor’s office to work with the city manager,” she said.
Johnson didn’t address her statement and gave no indication during the meeting that he would change how he communicates with council members. Public clashes between the mayor and several council members occurred off and on throughout last year, including during the budget debate.
On Monday, the mayor repeatedly said he thought the meeting was unnecessary. He also said that while he understood why some favored Broadnax having more authority during disasters, if they wanted the state of emergency processes to change, they would need to “talk to the Legislature about it.”
“The reality is, in a disaster, the mayor — whoever it is — is the emergency management director,” Johnson said, “and the emergency management coordinator is who the mayor selects.”
