AFTER MISSTEPS, SICK ELDERLY IN LINE, 6,000 VACCINES GIVEN; JUDGE, COUNTY HEALTH DEPT. GETTING IT RIGHT?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Imagine that dealing with testing for COVID-19 and dispensing the scarce vaccines is something like marriage.

Sometimes you have to do it again and again until you get it right.

That may be the best metaphor for the experience Cameron County has had with their battle with the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, elected officials at all levels played down the seriousness of the infection, only to grudgingly admit that it had spiraled out of control, then moved to implement total and partial business lockdowns, mandatory face mask orders, social distancing and limiting groups to 10 people to thwart the spread.

Then it was disclosed that the county had doled out the vaccines to the public by giving each of the four commissioners and county judge 750 vaccines each to dispense as they saw fit, opening them up to harsh criticisms that they were given out to political supporters, relatives and chosen religious congregations.

The latest vaccination clinic held Friday came after the county handed out vouchers for the vaccine on Thursday. Despite officials' admonitions, some people waited in the pre-dawn hours to assure themselves they would get a prized vaccine voucher.

At each step of the way, residents had to wait for hours in long lines until a Cameron County Health Department worker administered the first dose of the shot at the end of the maze. The second stage, another shot, will be administered after about a month.

Believe it or not, after two or three such vaccine clinics, County Judge Eddie Treviño, and more specifically, the county's health workers seem to be getting it right. 

Health department spokespeople said that some 6,000 vaccines were administered at the Los Fresnos Rodeo grounds, with the average wait of about two hours. Toward the end, the five lines moved relatively fast as health workers poked residents while they drove up and sat in their cars.

There are, understandably, some glitches. But Brownsville health care workers and volunteers say that those who are in wheelchairs or are bedbound and live in nursing homes have no way of spending hours at the county’s vaccination clinic to receive their shot. And instead of criticizing Treviño, they have offered some suggestions to address the problem

The Brownsville Herald, for example, reported that at Friday’s vaccine clinic in Los Fresnos, which was only for those 65 years and older, thousands waited in line for hours to receive the vaccine. Some residents who were waiting to receive the vaccine started to feel sick after waiting in their car for hours and had to receive medical services before getting their shot. Some Good Samaritans were seen distributing water bottles to the elderly.

Abraham Barrientes, an administrator at a healthcare service center, philanthropist Mary Yturria and Brownsville resident Jack White said a solution would be to have a time frame for nursing home patients where they would go to the clinic, receive the vaccine and come back.

The told the newspaper that they are worried that the current COVID-19 vaccine clinics are leaving out those who need it the most and have no transportation to attend. Barrientes said a solution would be to have a time frame for nursing home patients where they would go to the clinic, receive the vaccine and come back. They have reached out to Treviño and have made suggestions they hope will address the special needs of this vulnerable group.

“We are proposing for them to establish a time frame that is of course feasible for the employees to transport them, within a certain allocated time. We take the clients that need to be treated and bring them back right away, because obviously the employees we have, have other commitments and can’t be there. What I’ve heard is that you go there at 10 p.m. and get service until 10 a.m. to get the vaccine, they just can’t do that,” Barrientes told the daily.

“The individuals that we serve can’t go, they don’t have the transportation. I went there and saw the conditions, they have to wait in the car for hours and they can’t do that. It is hard to imagine in this day and age that we have people needing transportation, basic things, but we have quite a few that are wheelchair ridden, bedbound, blind and totally depend on us. I understand that it’s a big endeavor that they have to overcome. Meeting the needs of everybody is very difficult.”

“We in no way want to criticize the county. My guess is that their staff is so small and their challenge is so huge that they’re doing all they can,” White said. “We just want to inform and be an advocate for the county, to expand this and to better communicate the resources that need to be there for the people we know are in most need.”

Yturria also told the Herald that she is wheelchair bound and has a staff of five people who takes care of her. She said it would be very difficult to go through all the process of getting the vaccine at the clinic.

“How is the Judge going to know unless somebody tells him?,” Yturria said. “That’s so often the problem.”