OOPSIE! TREVINO CHANGES WAY TO GIVE "LIMITED" VOUCHERS

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Smarting over widespread disapproval of allowing individual Cameron County commissioners to personally chose who to distribute vouchers for the COVID-19 vaccine that resulted in the scarce supplies going to political supporters and friends, Judge Eddie Trevino has announced a new system of distribution.

Acccording to a news release, Treviño has modified the previous method of distribution and the county will hold a drive-through COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Los Fresnos on Friday for people aged 65 and older.

The clinic will begin at 6 a.m. at the Los Fresnos Fire Department located at 100 Rodeo Dr. and will continue until supplies last.

However, instead of allotting each individual commissioner 750 vouchers for the vaccine, residents must first pick up a voucher before getting vaccinated. Residents can begin picking up vouchers starting Thursday at 8:00 a.m. at the following locations throughout Cameron County:

Commissioner Precinct 1 Warehouse: 2050 S. Browne Avenue, Brownsville, Texas
City of South Padre Island: 4601 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island, Texas

Precinct 2 Town of Rancho Viejo: 3301 Carmen Ave., Rancho Viejo, Texas

Commissioner Precinct 3 Warehouse: 26945 FM 510, San Benito, Texas
City of Laguna Vista: 122 Fernandez St., Laguna Vista, Texas
City of Los Fresnos: 520 Ocean Blvd., Los Fresnos, Texas
City of Port Isabel: 305 E. Maxan St., Port Isabel, Texas
City of Rio Hondo: 121 N. Arroyo Blvd., Rio Hondo, Texas
Town of Bayview: 104 S. San Roman Rd., Bayview, Texas
Town of Indian Lake: 62 S. Aztec Cove Dr., Los Fresnos, Texas

Commissioner Precinct 4 Warehouse: 26623 White Ranch Road, La Feria, Texas
City of Combes: 21626 Hand Road, Combes, Texas
City of La Feria: 115 E. Commercial Ave., La Feria, Texas
City of Los Indios: 109 E. 6th St. Los Indios, Texas
City of Palm Valley: 1313 N. Stuart Pl. Rd., Harlingen, Texas
City of Primera: 22893 Stuart Place Rd., Primera, Texas
City of Santa Rosa: 411 S. 6th St., Santa Rosa, Texas

Eligible residents must be in line no later than 12:000 p.m. No walk-ins will be allowed at the clinic.

Questioned by the Brownsville Herald on the distribution fiasco the last time around, where the county handed out roughly 3,000 vouchers – 750 at each precinct at the pleasure of the commissioner – and where there was no public announcement or anything  posted on the county’s social media pages that mentioned the vouchers, Treviño said they were still finessing the methods.

He told the daily Wednesday that they are still looking for ways to make the vaccination process more efficient.

“We are looking for different ways to try to make the system better and more efficient,” he said. “Some of the concerns that we’ve been made aware of, and we’ve seen, it’s that we don’t want our elderly, we don’t want anybody, but especially our elderly, waiting for hours and hours before they get to the clinic.”

Treviño said by handing the commissioners vouchers to distribute in their precincts, it gives those eligible in the county an opportunity to get that voucher instead of just focusing on one area. When asked if they will use the same voucher distribution process for the upcoming clinic, Treviño said they are still finalizing the details on how they will address the distribution.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Joey Lopez told the newspaper he distributed his vouchers at several local churches in his precinct and said he had 24 hours to distribute them. He said the limited time to hand out the vouchers forced him to choose the most convenient way. 

He did not mention that he had called individuals on his own initiative and did not say how he made the selection. That included local blogger Jerry McHale, who told numerous friends Lopez called him to offer him the voucher for the vaccine unsolicited. Was this an investment in future good publicity? 

“This last time, last week, he gave them to us and we had 24 hours to get rid of 750 vouchers. So, I picked the churches in my area and I gave them the instructions of what they had to do,” Lopez said.

“They had to be over 65 years and they had to write the name of the person in the voucher and the date of birth before they gave it to the individual.”

When the Herald reporter asked if this process will continue to be used for future vaccination clinics in the county, Lopez punted the hot potato to Treviño.

“The judge is the one who makes the call. If we have enough staff to hand them out at the actual place or if it’s smoother with us giving them out,” he said.

On the other and the City of South Padre Island has taken a different tack. It has opened a vaccine voucher registration portal online to help distribute vouchers for the community clinic set for Friday and possible future voucher programs.

The vouchers will be distributed to people 65-years and older, with the oldest being given preference.

Registrants will be notified by the city of the next steps and the requirements to receive vouchers. A valid government-issued identification will be required to verify age.

The city announced to the media that registering does not guarantee anyone a voucher since vouchers are dependent on the availability of the vaccine that is distributed through the County.

Registration via phone call will open for residents on Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.. The number to call is (956) 761-8106.