Area cities pushing for vaccine doses, clinics

‘Demand is huge’

HARLINGEN — Area officials are calling for coronavirus vaccine doses to administer in their hometowns as Cameron County officials plan to distribute 6,000 doses during their third — and biggest — Los Fresnos clinic Friday.

Across the county, residents are pushing local officials to hold vaccination clinics in their hometowns.

“We’re going to do everything we can to help the county hold more clinics to make it accessible to our residents and the citizens of Cameron County,” Harlingen City Manager Dan Serna said.

In Harlingen and San Benito, officials argue the out-of-town drives followed by long lines and waiting periods can be too hard on residents 65 and older or those suffering underlying medical conditions.

“We’ve been pushing, we’ve been asking,” San Benito Mayor Rick Guerra said Wednesday.

“Why can’t this come to San Benito?” he asked, referring to a vaccination clinic. “We need something to help our elderly here in San Benito. They need to distribute to the smaller cities. Our elders are having a hard time driving, standing in line and waiting for so long. How can you have the majority of our citizens standing in line for a day?”

At City Hall, officials are holding “on-going discussions” aimed at staging a vaccination clinic in town, city spokesman David Favila stated.

“The city of San Benito has offered to host a vaccination clinic within the city,” he stated. “Discussions are on-going between officials from Cameron County and representatives from all cities including San Benito.”

Residents’ requests led officials to offer to hold a clinic in town, Favila stated.

“A vaccination clinic will assist San Benito residents who may have difficulty traveling to other areas of the region for vaccinations,” he stated. “Those requests have been relayed to Cameron County health officials who have indicated most Cameron County cities have requested to host a vaccination clinic.”

High demand

In Harlingen, Josh Ramirez, the city’s public health director, said his four-member staff is fielding about 100 phone calls a day from residents pushing for another vaccination clinic here.

“The demand is huge,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of pressure from citizens and municipalities.”

In turn, city officials are requesting the state and county send vaccine doses with which to hold local vaccination clinics, Ramirez said.

“We receive concerns from citizens about traveling to another town and then waiting in extremely long lines to be selected to get vaccinated,” he said.

“These are people 65 and older, some with compromised immune systems battling another illness. We have an elderly population that can’t travel that far. It’s a huge inconvenience — and they’re the ones who need it the most. They can’t sit there for long hours. We should work on better accommodations for them.”

Proposal for smaller, regularly scheduled clinics

In Los Fresnos, county officials are busy setting up their biggest vaccination clinic, planning to administer 6,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Friday.

Meanwhile, Ramirez is proposing the county hold smaller, regularly scheduled vaccination clinics which would not require out-of-town travel and long waiting periods.

“I think we should have two or more a week with a couple of hundred doses so it’s more manageable instead of doing thousands at one time and waiting in line for hours,” he said.

Cities offering vaccination sites

On Jan. 8, Harlingen became the site of the county’s first vaccination clinic held at the Casa del Sol community center, where health officials administered 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

“The county liked the way it worked,” Serna said.

Since then, county officials have held their vaccination clinics at Brownsville’s Sports Park and the Los Fresnos Fire Department off U.S. 100.

In Harlingen, Serna said he’s offered the county use of Casa del Sol along with other sites such as the Harlingen Soccer Complex.

“We also offered any other facility we have in the event they wanted to do more drive-thrus,” he said. “We bring options to them and we’re working with the county to get these clinics up.”

In San Benito, officials are offering the county use of the sprawling Cameron County Fairgrounds as a vaccination site, Guerra said.

“We can do the same thing,” Guerra said, referring to the county’s Los Fresnos clinics. “Give us a chance.”

County offering vouchers for Friday clinic

Today, county officials will distribute vouchers which will allow residents to receive their vaccinations during Friday’s Los Fresnos clinic which will target those 65 and older.

At 8 a.m., officials will begin handing out vouchers at locations including county warehouses and sites in Brownsville, South Padre Island, Rancho Viejo, San Benito, Laguna Vista, Los Fresnos, Port Isabel, Rio Hondo, Bayview, Indian Lake, La Feria, Combes, Palm Valley, Primera and Santa Rosa.

At 6 a.m. Friday, officials will open the drive-thru vaccination clinic, in which the Moderna vaccine will be administered at the Los Fresnos Fire Department at 100 Rodeo Drive.

“All persons must be in line no later than 12 p.m. and information and vouchers will be verified on site,” officials stated. “No walk-ins will be allowed.”

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