BROWNSVILLE — County officials are planning to improve their COVID-19 vaccine distribution program as residents warn many elderly people faced potential health risks during the county’s biggest vaccination clinic last week.
During a meeting Tuesday, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said officials are considering registering people for vaccinations while working with public health clinics to help better distribute the vaccine.
“We ask everybody’s patience and understanding as we continue to fine tune and change our delivery system into different options and different opportunities,” Treviño said.
Now, officials are planning to offer the vaccine’s second and final dose to the 6,000 people who received their first shot during last week’s Los Fresnos clinic.
Concern over medical resources
During the meeting’s public comment period, resident John Shergold told commissioners the vaccination clinic held at the Los Fresnos rodeo grounds lacked adequate medical resources to treat any of the 6,000 people 65 and older who may have suffered adverse reactions.
Shergold said his 85-year-old mother, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, waited in his car for more than seven hours before she received her dose at about 2:30 p.m.
“There were at least several thousand folks waiting,” Shergold, a Brownsville attorney, told commissioners. “There were a lot of elderly, a lot of disabled folks that I personally observed that couldn’t get to the portable toilets that were few and far between in the area.”
Shergold, whose car carried oxygen for his mother, said rows of cars would have blocked people seeking medical treatment while the site also lacked adequate medical personnel.
“A lot of folks couldn’t basically move out of their areas if they had a medical emergency,” he said. “I would say that putting 6,000 people in an area located in that type of situation with lack of medical facilities, for folks that are usually disabled or elderly like they were, you might want to have medical people or some sort of attendants checking on people in their cars.”
Shergold said the site stood about 30 minutes away from the nearest hospital.
“We’re 30 minutes away from any medical facilities that could do any sort of emergency treatment if you have an allergic reaction to these shots,” he said.
EMTs standing by
In response, Treviño said emergency medical technicians were standing by to respond to any health concern.
“I understand Mr. Shergold’s comments,” he said. “There (were) EMTs on site during the Los Fresnos clinics and at the other clinics. We’ve also had ambulance emergency personnel available in the event there is a need.”
Across the country, public health officials are holding mass vaccination clinics to distribute the vaccine, Treviño said.
“All I can tell you is the whole country is using this super center system,” he said. “Certainly, for our elderly, we know it’s very much a stress for them but the key is to get the shots in arms and it’s hard to do that without having some type of facility.”
Officials planned their biggest vaccination clinic after staging successful events in which they administered 2,000 to 4,000 doses, Treviño said.
“On Friday we decided to give it a shot since we were doing so well inoculating 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 people,” he said. “We decided to give it a shot with 6,000 in one day. It was going very well but it slowed down toward the end.”
County planning to improve voucher system
Treviño said officials are working to improve the county’s vaccine distribution program.
“We are looking at different ways to continue to get the vaccine out to the community including changing or refining the disbursement of the voucher system — putting in times,” he said.
Officials to work with public health clinics
Now, he said, officials are planning to work with public health clinics to help distribute the vaccine.
“Up until a few days ago, the state would not allow us to share our vaccine with third parties, that being doctors, clinics, pharmacies,” Treviño said. “They’ve finally given us the authority to do that so we’re looking at ways to do that, so we’re figuring out what works best and utilizing clinics — public health clinics that obviously have a large inventory of clients, of patients that they know are the most susceptible, the most at risk.”
Residents concerns
In Harlingen, Josh Ramirez, the city’s public health director, said some residents had expressed concern the Los Fresnos clinic was going to be too big to vaccinate 6,000 people 65 and older.
“We had citizens express concern before the event that there were too many people, that there were not facilities to go out and stretch and use the restroom,” he said. “These are people with organ problems who can’t stand or sit in long lines for hours. Some of these folks need constant medical attention. These are elderly people — our most vulnerable.”
Proposing smaller vaccination clinics
Now, Ramirez is proposing the county hold smaller, regularly scheduled vaccination clinics which would not require out-of-town travel and long waiting periods.
“The county, with the municipalities’ support and assistance, should be able to administer the 6,000 doses in smaller amounts at city sites closer to home to make it more accessible,” he said. “I think we could make it easier and more manageable.”
