Visitors to the State Fair of Texas will have a shot at getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but only Dallas County residents will nab a $20 coupon sheet as a reward.
Dallas County Health and Human Services previously announced it would give out free shots and coupons at the fair, but the county’s health director, Dr. Philip Huang, said Tuesday the reward would be limited due to funding.
A vaccine booth at the State Fair is part of several targeted efforts at major events where the county hopes to improve vaccination rates. County health teams have set up at back-to-school fairs, community festivals and more, but Dallas County Commissioners criticized the effectiveness of those efforts.
“I just don’t want to waste a lot of time and energy,” Commissioner John Wiley Price said at a meeting Tuesday. “I don’t go to a jazz festival to get a shot in the arm.”
Last month, the Commissioners Court approved spending up to $255,000 to buy coupons and other tickets as incentives to get more people vaccinated. Only 58% of people in the county are fully vaccinated, according to state data, up 5% from this time last month.
Huang has said those efforts are just one strategy among many to get more residents vaccinated.
“Every shot in an arm is a good thing,” Huang said. “We’re trying to go where people are.”
The county has distributed nearly 1.5 million doses of the vaccine. It shut down its massive vaccination site at Fair Park in July, but reopened it a few weeks later as a pop-up clinic every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Sept. 18, just before the start of the State Fair.
At the Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins agreed with Huang, saying that he hoped the State Fair effort would make it easy for people already at the event to get the shot. Still, he said, most people don’t “impulse buy” a shot on a whim at such events.
Both Price and Commissioner Elba Garcia critiqued the effectiveness of recent vaccination efforts. Vaccination rates have improved since earlier in the year, but the commissioners said it still is not as high as they’d like. They both have previously pushed for more widespread marketing efforts to promote vaccinations.
Garcia praised efforts to provide rewards for vaccinations, but raised skepticism about the State Fair coupons.
“Let’s face it, at this point, Dr. Huang, we need to incentivize it,” Garcia said. “It’s $20, what is that, one corny dog?”
(An original Fletcher’s corny dog costs seven coupons, or $7, at the State Fair.)
Although Dallas County residents will be the only people eligible for the reward, anyone can get first or second doses of the vaccine at the State Fair without an appointment. The county will have a booth near Big Tex.
People must have their vaccination card to receive a second shot, and both Pfizer and Moderna doses will be available.
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Want a COVID-19 vaccine?
Where: South Dallas’ Fair Park, Lot 13, enter through Gate 13.
When: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 11 and Sept. 18 (Saturdays)
To find other locations and opportunities to get the vaccine, or for more information, click here.
