HARLINGEN — Harlingen city officials are planning to use a $1.45 million state grant to help launch the second phase of their COVID-19 vaccination program aimed at reaching deeper into the community to target more residents.
Earlier this week, city commissioners accepted the Texas Department of State Health Services COVID-19 Vaccination Funding Award, which comes with the money earmarked to expand the city’s program through 2024.
“I think we deserve it,” Mayor Chris Boswell quipped during a meeting Wednesday. “I think our community has done a lot to support the efforts of getting everybody vaccinated and staying healthy and this is recognition of that.”
Since January, the city has held about 10 vaccination clinics, administering about 12,000 doses.
As the program enters its second phase, officials plan to use the grant money to fund a mobile vaccination clinic along with a community outreach program aimed at targeting working residents along with those holding out on taking the vaccine, said Josh Ramirez, the city’s public health director who applied for the grant.
After vaccinating most residents 16 and older, officials plan to offer vaccine booster shots, which remain in the testing phase, he said.
“We’re preparing for the long haul,” Ramirez said. “COVID is not going to just disappear.”
As part of the state’s vaccination program, health officials plan to vaccinate most Texans 16 and older by summer.
Now, officials are planning new ways to reach working residents and those holding back on taking the vaccine.
“We know we’re not going to be able to reach everyone by summer,” Ramirez said. “We need to be prepared to continue vaccinations until we achieve about 100 percent. We know it’s a challenge but that’s our goal — to try to get as close as possible. That’s the only way we’re going to control the virus.”
At City Hall, Ramirez is tapping $677,000 to rent a van he plans to convert into a mobile clinic to vaccinate residents everywhere from workplaces and shopping centers to churches.
Meanwhile, he also plans to rent the Harlingen Convention Center and other sites to stage vaccination clinics.
Ramirez said part of that money will also fund the production and printing of educational material planned for the city’s community outreach program.
“It’s going to be key to getting the community vaccinated,” Ramirez said of the outreach program.
As part of the program, officials plan to present residents with information aimed at assuring the vaccine’s safety.
“There’s poor information out there — it’s false and misleading and it’s not helping the citizens make the decision to get vaccinated,” Ramirez said.
Across the country, health officials are reporting dropping vaccination rates.
During a vaccination clinic last weekend, Cameron County officials noted a “drastic decrease” in the vaccination rate following reports of six women who developed a rare blood-clotting disorder within about two weeks of taking the new Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, Melissa Elizardi, the county’s spokeswoman, said.
“There’s currently some doubt about the vaccine,” Ramirez said. “Because of the Johnson & Johnson (case), people are making assumptions that there are problems with other vaccines and there’s not.”
Out of the state grant, officials plan to set aside $400,834 to hire personnel to help run the program, including a registered nurse, a licensed vocational nurse, a community outreach coordinator and a clerk, Ramirez said.
Meanwhile, officials plan to tap $201,086 to purchase a pharmaceutical refrigerator and freezer in which to store the vaccine along with a portable refrigerator to transport doses as part of the mobile clinic, he said, adding he expects to receive the state’s grant money by early June.
