HARLINGEN — Across Cameron County, city officials will be holding COVID-19 community vaccination clinics, planning to give the vaccine to 3,500 people 65 and older.
For weeks, city leaders had been pushing county officials to send them vaccine doses to allow them to hold hometown clinics aimed at cutting long waiting lines and travel.
As part of the program, county health officials have distributed a total of 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine to cities including Harlingen, Brownsville, Port Isabel, Primera and Santa Rosa.
“We want to ensure everyone’s in close proximity to receive the vaccine therefore we have partnered with the different municipalities throughout the county to continue the allocation effort,” Melissa Elizardi, the county’s spokeswoman, said Wednesday.
Boosting access to vaccine
In Port Isabel and Santa Rosa, officials had been requesting hometown vaccination clinics to give more residents a chance to get vaccinated, Jared Hockema, who serves as city manager for both cities, said, adding the clinics will be held Friday.
In Primera, officials were also pre-registering people for their clinic planned to be held near City Hall on Friday.
“By having it distributed through the individual municipalities, it promotes geographic equity and efficiency,” Hockema said. “It’s more manageable so that’s why we’ve been promoting having clinics in municipalities across the county.”
In Harlingen, the city will hold a drive-thru COVID-19 clinic at the Harlingen Convention Center from 6 a.m.-3 p.m. This clinic is for people aged 65 and older. Residents must pick up their wristbands on Thursday at the convention center or the city’s emergency operations center at 24200 North FM 509.
Meanwhile, Brownsville officials will hold their clinic at Texas Southmost College on Friday.
Cutting waiting time
In Port Isabel and Santa Rosa, officials pre-registered people through and telephone and online applications, setting vaccination appointments.
“We’re trying to cut down on the waiting — the lines, the traffic,” Hockema said, requesting locations be withheld to stop non-registered people from creating traffic lines. “We’re trying to make it easier by giving them specific time slots, particularly because these are older people.”
Distributing vaccine doses
For this week, the state shipped the county thousands of doses, 6,000 of which where set aside for a Friday Los Fresnos clinic which will administer the vaccine’s second and final dose to people who received their first dose during a Jan. 29 clinic.
As part of the drive aimed at expanding the distribution network, the county sent Brownsville 1,500 doses, Harlingen 1,000 doses, Port Isabel 500 doses, Primera 300 doses and Santa Rosa 200 doses, Tom Hushen, the county’s emergency management coordinator, said.
“The more areas you have, the easier it is for people to get it,” he said, referring to the vaccine. “It’s to get the vaccine into people’s arms the best way we can.”
Willacy County clinic
Meanwhile, Willacy County officials are planning to hold a vaccination clinic Friday at Raymondville High School, where they plan to administer the vaccine’s second dose to 780 people who received their first dose on Jan. 22.
