As the hyper-contagious delta variant of COVID-19 tears through the Rio Grande Valley and children head back to the classroom, Cameron County is trying a new approach to persuade kids between 12 and 18 to get vaccinated: money.
Precinct 3 Commissioner David Garza brought the idea to the county commission after seeing it used elsewhere. Every child between the ages of 12 and 18 who attends a school in Cameron County and received a first vaccine dose no earlier than Aug. 10 is eligible for a $50 debit card, to be claimed at any of the county’s four health clinics: Mary Lucio Health Clinic in Brownsville, Harlingen Public Health Clinic, San Benito Public Health Clinic and Father Joseph O’Brien Health Clinic in Port Isabel.
Garza, who introduced the Cameron County Student Vaccination Incentive Program at a Monday press conference, said parents’ apprehension over sending their kids to school for in-person learning is growing, while the vaccination rate for the 12-to-18 age group is low compared to the rest of the population. The incentive program is an attempt to improve the situation and ease parents’ fears, Garza said.
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. reported that, as of Aug. 13, 70.6 percent of county residents 12 and older had received both doses versus 82.5 percent of residents 65 and older. The incentive program runs through Sept. 30 and only applies to first doses, though its also aims to familiarize participants with vaccination sites with the hope they will follow up on second doses without any cash incentive.
Garza said the county hopes to get first doses to at least 10,000 children who otherwise would enter the classroom unvaccinated. Each child will need a valid student ID and parent or legal guardian present at the vaccination site, he said.
“Once they get vaccinated it might take 48 hours for (immunization tracking) to occur, so when you go claim this gift card you will appear in the state system,” Garza said. “It’s very simple. You can live anywhere, you just need to make sure you attend school in Cameron County. We want to protect the kids that are in school in Cameron County.”
No vaccine has been approved yet for children younger than 12. At the same time, county Public Health Administrator Esmeralda Guajardo reported that new COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the county and that a growing number involve breakthrough cases — people who contract the virus even though they are fully vaccinated, a hallmark of the delta variant, which is putting children in ICUs across the country. As of Monday the county was reporting 333 breakthrough cases so far, with more sure to come, she said.
Guajardo said she can’t imagine sending her 3-year-old to school unvaccinated and surrounded by unvaccinated children, and begged parents to get themselves and their eligible children vaccinated. Even if the vaccine still allows infection in some people, that is no reason not to get vaccinated, she said.
“It is shown to protect you from getting very sick and going to the hospital,” Guajardo said. “Not just the kids, but adults, need to get vaccinated.”
Flyers for the incentive program are going up on social media and “everywhere so people will know,” she said. The parent or legal guardian can claim the debit card at any of the four county health clinics without the child present, though they must bring ID, proof that the student attends a school in the county, and proof of the student’s age, Guajardo said. County health staff will access the state’s immunization database (ImmTrac2) to confirm the child received a first dose.
“We’re hitting that plateau with vaccines and we just need that extra push,” she said. “School, once it starts, no telling what we’re going to see.”
County Public Health Authority Dr. James Castillo reported at the press conference that only seven ICU beds were available across the Valley as of last count.
“We know that hospitals are absolutely doing everything they can to meet the highest standards of care, but that’s becoming increasingly difficult as more and more people continue to be hospitalized, not only here locally but across the state and across the entire southern part of the United States,” he said.
“So we really need everybody’s help in doing everything you know how to do to avoid getting this infection. … With back-to-school already in full effect, the best way to protect yourself and your family against COVID is for everybody in the household who is eligible for the vaccine to become fully vaccinated.”
