CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County officials will conduct a joint press conference at 11:30 a.m. today to brief the public on the 4,000 doses of Moderna vaccine schedule to arrive on Monday.
City/county health director Annette Rodriguez and other city leaders will appear at the press conference.
"This is an exciting day for Corpus Christi," Mayor Joe McComb said. "But we are going to advise people to have a big dose of patience."
Officials said the vaccinations are expected to begin at noon Monday at the Richard Borchard Center at the Fairgrounds. 1213 Terry Shamsie Blvd. in Robstown.
Registration will begin online beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday at the city's coronarivus website link here. Registration will continue until the number of registrations allotted for the next day is reached.
When a person makes it through the registration process, they will be issued a QR code that will be shown to officials at the time of the vaccination. You are asked to take a picture of that code in bring it with you to the vaccination site. It is a unique code and cannot be shared with others.
The vaccination process will be directed to two groups: those who are over 65 and others 18 and older with chronic illnesses like cancer, COPD, diabetes, heart conditions, sickle-cell disease and pregnancies.
Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales borrowed a couple of references from "Field of Dreams," a movie she said was one of her favorites, to describe the county's plans to distribute the vaccine.
"If you build it, they will come," Canales said. "And the reason we built the infrastructure is the same answer that was given to ("Field of Dreams" star) Kevin Costner. To ease his pain. This is the thing we are doing to ease our pain with COVID-19."
Officials hope to be able to distribute 4,000 first-step doses of the vaccine next week. That would then pave the way for additional doses from the state when those are depleted.
Canales said that the Corpus Christi area has been designated as a "megasite," meaning it is meant to serve those interested in receiving the vaccine from outside the county.
"The sad truth is our population is more at risk than others in the state," Canales said. "We have 50 percent more of our population 65 years and older than the rest of the state. That's very compelling. Also, we have more uninsured people and more with an average income lower than the rest of the state."
Only 500 doses of the vaccine will be available through the online registration, Canales said.
The site will shut down once all the 500 doses are accounted for.
Another 500 doses will be set aside for those who do not have access to a computer.