Karen Gleason
Providing COVID-19 vaccinations to residents of Ciudad Acuña, Coah., Mexico, came under fire during Wednesday’s meeting of county commissioners court, but county officials say the state of Texas has directed them “not to refuse anyone based on residency.”
The issue arose during a discussion led by Val Verde County/City of Del Rio Assistant Local Health Authority Dr. Laura Palau of local vaccinations efforts.
In answering a question by County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton about the number of vaccinations the county and city hope to offer every week, Palau discussed vaccinating as many persons as possible, noting there are currently 3,000 persons on the county/city waiting list.
During her answer to Nettleton, Palau spoke about providing service to local public school teachers and “people from Acuña.”
“You mentioned people from Acuña? How are we going to control that?” Nettleton asked.
Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. interjected the vaccinations would be done by tiers recommended by the state.
“I understand that, but you’re saying we’re going to allow people to come in from Acuña, if they meet the tiers, to get vaccinated?” Nettleton asked.
Palau said no one from Acuña has yet signed up for the vaccine.
“The answer is yes,” Owens replied.
“I have a big problem with that. If we have not gone through all the people that we have in this community, and we’re allowing people to come in from a foreign country, that’s wrong. We have people in this community that, once we get through the tiers, need to get vaccinated. We need to get that done before we start bringing in people from all over the place,” Nettleton said.
“I agree with that,” County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said. “I think there are people that have been on a list and have been waiting for over a month, so we need to target the people here in our community first.”
Owens told the court the local COVID task force has been directed to vaccinate anyone who falls into any of the prescribed tiers, no matter what country they are from.
“If they show up, we’re supposed to vaccinate them if they fit the tiers,” Owens said.
“That’s wrong on so many levels, it’s not even funny,” Nettleton groused.
“We just need to be as fair as possible with the community, especially the elderly. We need to target them and to help as many people as we can,” Flores added.
After the meeting, Palau and County Emergency Management Coordinator Rowland Garza said the residency questions were determined by the state.
“The guidance we’ve been given was we cannot deny anyone on the basis of residency. Residency is not a requirement. It came about because there are people from other counties coming in,” Garza said.
Palau noted residents of Kinney and Edwards counties are among those who have signed up on the county/city portal to receive vaccines on Saturday.
“Residence is not a requirement,” Garza added.
