Drive-through vaccination clinics are definitely more efficient, which also means it takes less time to run out of vaccine.
That’s according to Cameron County Public Health Administrator Esmeralda Guarjardo, who said the reality is that the county is receiving very limited quantities of COVID-19 vaccine each week and begged the public for patience.
The county held its first COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Casa del Sol in Harlingen last week and the second one in Los Fresnos Wednesday at the city’s fire department and EMS facility.
The Harlingen clinic, which involved people getting out of their cars one at a time, entering a building and receiving the vaccine, then moving to an adjacent building for 15 minutes of observation, saw 224 residents vaccinated in the first hour until departing traffic backed up and slowed the rate to 160 or 170 an hour, she said.
In Los Fresnos, about 360 people an hour moved through the vaccination line, with the result that the 2,350 available doses of Moderna vaccine were exhausted shortly after noon, Guajardo said. The next clinic takes place at the Brownsville Sports Park on Friday and will not be drive-through due to expected windy conditions, which makes delivering shots outdoors unfeasible.
“That set up is not conducive to having syringes, cotton balls on tables,” she said. “We’re going to have to take it inside to the dome.”
There will be a disabled parking area at the dome where people who have trouble with mobility will be able to get vaccinated in their cars, Guajardo said. As with the previous clinics, the municipality will handle traffic and parking on Friday, while the county will handle the logistics of giving the shots. County emergency management will also be involved and volunteer nurses from BISD, IDEA Public Schools and the UT School of Public Health will be helping out.
Everyone who shows up to be vaccinated should bring ID and the registration form available on the Cameron County Public Health website. Vouchers for vaccine doses are handed out upon arrival until vouchers for all the available doses have been distributed. After that, new arrivals will be turned away. Those who do receive vouchers are expected to remain in their cars in line until it’s their turn to enter the dome for a shot.
As with Los Fresnos, 2,350 doses of the Moderna will be distributed at the Sports Park. The clinic opens at 6 a.m. The current phase of vaccinations is for anyone over 65, or anyone 18 and over with underlying health conditions. Guajardo said claims of underlying conditions must be based on the honor system. In other words, don’t claim to have an underlying condition unless you actually do.
“ We’re not in a position to do medical assessments,” she said. “Because of that, and we are trying get thousands of people through, we depend on the public to be honest. I understand that people want it to protect themselves, but they have to be considerate of other individuals that really do need it. For some people the vaccine is going to be a matter of life or death. If you’re generally healthy, let the older individuals come through first.”
Guajardo said the county, municipalities, law enforcement and volunteers are doing a great job coordinating on the clinics and that the current system is working as well as it can considering the scarcity of vaccine.
“ People talk about there’s got to be a better way,” she said. “I’ll take suggestions, but obviously we saw what happened with the UTRGV registration system, backed up with 65,000 people. That’s not really going to work. … It’s a partnership effort and everyone’s trying to do the best they can with the very little that we have. If people could be just a little understanding that would be great.”
cameroncounty.us/publichealth/
