DALLAS — Emmitt Smith extended his hand to a football player at Emmett J. Conrad High in Dallas Independent School District. The young player, reaching out from beneath a rolled-up sleeve, clasped the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back’s palm in return.
“Trust me, I got my shots, too,” Smith told the student at a Dallas vaccine clinic Tuesday afternoon. “It’s going to be all right.”
The young athlete closed his eyes tightly and received his first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“You really truly are protecting someone else when you protect yourself,” Smith added. “It’s up to someone else now to do what you just did so they can protect the next person.”
The Cowboys legend and three-time Super Bowl champion joined First Lady Jill Biden on Tuesday to tour the on-campus vaccine site.
The first lady’s Texas swing was part of a broader effort by senior administration officials who are fanning out across the country this week to encourage vaccinations ahead of the administration’s self-imposed goal of hitting a 70% countrywide vaccination rate by July 4. Last week, a Biden administration official said the country was unlikely to meet that goal.
About 41% of Texans are fully vaccinated, while the number of hospitalizations and the weekly average of new cases are on the decline in the state. Health officials say 75% to 90% of Texans would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. Nationwide, about 66% of adults have at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We all carry each other through the darkest times,” Biden said. “That is what we do as Americans…So, God bless you, Dallas, and go get vaccinated.”
Biden later traveled to Houston for Tuesday evening, where she was joined by second gentleman Douglas Emhoff. The two visited a Houston Astros-sponsored vaccination site and then attended an Astros game at Minute Maid Park, sitting with military members and frontline workers. The pair could be seen clinking their beer in plastic cups.
While there, the first lady pointed to Texas’ low vaccine rate as part of the impetus for coming to the state.
“Because the numbers are low here,” she said when asked why she came to Texas. “I think 40% of all Texans are vaccinated, so that’s, you know, the president and the vice president, Doug and I care about the American people about their health. So that’s why I’m here.”
On Wednesday, Biden and Emhoff traveled to Arizona, where they visited a middle school in Phoenix to encourage vaccinations.
“Right now only about 40% of Arizona, these are fully vaccinated,” Biden said. “And that’s just not enough.”
She noted that many vaccine sites don’t require an appointment. “You could just stick your kids in the car, you know, with a baggie with treats and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to the vaccination clinic.’ You can just walk in.”
Baseball. Beers. Vaccines. Cheers to that, right @SecondGentleman? pic.twitter.com/MtNMRS1gKM
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) June 30, 2021
EarlierTuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to San Antonio to tour a vaccination site there. President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan over the weekend.
In Dallas, Jill Biden and Smith expressed optimism.
“In the sports sense, we’re in the fourth quarter, and the game is not finished,” Smith told the group in that area.
“We’re going to get a touchdown,” Jill Biden added.
Biden and Smith toured the registration, shot administration and observation stations of Conrad’s vaccine center. Biden implored vaccine patients to encourage five more friends to receive the shot, reassuring them that she barely felt her jab. “And I hate needles,” the first lady said.
Biden aimed to demystify the shot by explaining its safety and efficacy in addition to reminding people that all shots are free. Smith said he was “extremely happy” when he and his family were vaccinated through the Parkland hospital system, which was also administering Conrad’s doses.
“This is serious,” said Smith, turning in his plaid purple suit toward rows of Conrad football players. “We’re getting to the third and fourth quarter. So you know you must not stop, you must not quit, you must continue to press on. That goes for each and every American.
“Stand up for the person to your right and to your left,” he said.
