Long-term vision for fight against COVID-19

Omar E. Zapata | THE RIDER

At a COVID-19 vaccine clinic news conference held Wednesday at PSJA Early College High School, a Hidalgo County official talked about a long-term plan for vaccinations in the county.

Eduardo “Eddie” Olivarez, chief administrative officer for Hidalgo County Health and Human Services, said the county was looking atadministering 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine that day and around 2,000 vaccines Thursday.

“Tomorrow is going to be a landmark day,” Olivarez said. “We are actually doing two 1,000 pod sites tomorrow, one here in PSJA and one in La Joya [Independent] School District.”

He said the county is dividing half its staff for the first time ever due to having two vaccine clinics.

“We’re kind of nervous, but we’re gonna see how it flows,” Olivarez said.

Hidalgo County, in conjunction with PSJA ISD employees, helped facilitate the vaccine clinic.

“We had a pre-vaccination clinic yesterday for about 180 to 190 nurses, clinicians and people who are going to help us with the program,” he said.

Olivarez said the same will be done at La Joya Independent School District due to the county’s long-term commitment to vaccination and will be looking to have four to five permanent vaccine clinics.

“With the support of the school board and support of the superintendent, [the county is] looking at [a] long-term vision at establishing, possibly, a permanent site here in PSJA and La Joya,” he said.

Olivarez said Hidalgo County plans to create specific vaccine clinics, which will be paid by the county, for certain people, called closed pods. He said a pod is a point of dispensing, and a series of closed pods are being developed.

“One, is that we would target specific people who have a disability, or have a transportation issue, that they cannot get out of their vehicle,” Olivarez said.

He said they are planning a closed pod for all school nurses, and are working closely with Dr. Cornelio Gonzalez, executive director of the Region One Education Service Center.

“There’s a lot of districts that have school nurses that have not been vaccinated,” Olivarez said. “Under 1B, school nurses by the state are allowed to be vaccinated. The goal is to vaccinate as many school nurses as possible, and in turn, when the day comes, and the teachers need to get vaccinated, we would use that force, that medical team, to assist with vaccination.”

Olivarez said in 28 days, county staff and PSJA nursing staff will be back at PSJA Early College High School to administer the second doses to people, even having an express line for them. And if they have extra vaccines, those will be administered as first-time doses to those who qualify.

“We’re also expecting some other vaccines to come in, and it has not arrived yet,” he said. “But the federal government designates [vaccines] to each state. Then each state divides it out to the different areas of the state. So we’re at the will of the hands of the pharmaceuticals, CDC and the Department of Health Services on how much vaccine we get.”

Olivarez said the Moderna vaccine is very effective at a 94.7% efficacy rate.

In total, Wednesday and Thursday, the vaccine clinics administered about 3,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine at PSJA ISD and La Joya ISD.

For information on who qualifies for the vaccination, testing sites and documentation to get vaccinated, click here.