Braving the coldest weather so far this year, more than 2,000 residents received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Brownsville Sports Park on Friday morning.
The clinic, which was described as a hybrid by Esmeralda Guajardo, health administrator at Cameron County, because it had both drive-thru and walk-in vaccination spots, administered 2,350 Moderna vaccines to those who received their first dose at the same place on Jan.15.
This is the third mass vaccination clinic the county has hosted for second dose individuals. During the same week, the county held a vaccination clinic at Los Fresnos where another 2,350 people received their second dose.
Guajardo said for second-dose clinics, there is no need for people to stay overnight or even long hours in line. She said the second-dose vaccines are being administered only to those who received the first one with them, too.
“We are seeing that a lot of people are staying in line for several hours. I was here at 5 a.m. and there was already a line, people stayed overnight. There’s no need for that with the second-dose clinics because we have enough vaccines and our priority are the people who already got vaccinated,” she said.
“We have the clinic 6 to 12, so show up during those times and we are going to have a vaccine for you, we are not going to give it away. But of course, you had to have been vaccinated with us and the vaccination card shows that information.”
All of the vaccination clinics that have been held by Cameron County, and recently one by the City of Brownsville, require individuals to have transportation to attend. When asked how will those home-bound residents receive their vaccine, Guajardo said the county is working with organizations that go to their home and administer the vaccine. She said the most important part is identifying the individuals.
“Right now, we are working with an organization that is going to take care of home-bound patients, through the 211 system and the Meals on Wheels, they identify individuals that are home-bound. They identify them and we make the referral to the organization ‘Dignity’ and they take care of them,” she said.
“So, we are already working on the home-bound patients, we know there’s still a lot of people and I think we just need to be made aware of them through the 211 system so that we can figure out how to address them. It goes down to making sure that we identify them, so the 211 system is the way to go.”
President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the U.S. had secured contractual commitments from Moderna and Pfizer to deliver 600 million doses of vaccine by the end of July — more than a month earlier than initially anticipated, The Associated Press reported.
Guajardo said as more vaccines become available, they will start partnering with more municipalities and even doctors’ offices so the vaccine distribution process can be more effective for the communities, including those with transportation issues.
“We recognize that people have transportation issues. Sometimes it’s difficult for everyone to go to one site, so that’s one thing. And the other thing is that as more vaccines get rolled out, there’s no way that we can do it alone, because of the resources and to address the transportation issues,” she said.
“There are some individuals that is harder for them to come to these vaccination clinics, so we know that the only way to do this is to distribute some of the vaccines, when we are able to, to give it to doctors’ offices because they can prioritize the high-risk patients and then to municipalities. They know their community better so they’re able to set up a clinic the way they think works best for them.”
