By: Peter Hightower, Area Media Specialist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saturday, January 23, 2021
The COVID-19 vaccine drive has arrived in Del Rio, Texas in large fashion. The City of Del Rio, Val Verde County, Val Verde Regional Hospital, and numerous other volunteer groups all came together this past Saturday to organize the first of what is sure to be many mass vaccination clinics available to the public in the area. The event was held at the Del Rio Civic Center from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm.
According to Dr. Laura Palau M.D., the County Health Director for Val Verde County, volunteers and medical staff administered 1,143 vaccinations to local residents during the event. The vaccine was offered free of charge to county residents over age 65, hospital workers, teachers and other first-responders such as Border Patrol and US Customs agents. The recipients were selected from a list of people who registered in advance on the city’s website and each was given an appointment time to arrive. This helped ensure minimal wait times and a steady but manageable flow of traffic throughout the day.
County Judge Lewis Owens was on site the entire day observing and helping supervise the activities. “We’re so happy with how everything is going so far” he stated around 1:00pm. “We feel like this event has been extremely successful with most people only having to wait for a few minutes before receiving their vaccine.” He heaped praise on the volunteers and mentioned that the event would not have been possible without their help.
Missionaries and members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were among the more than 100 volunteers who showed up to help. “I’m so glad we were able to come help out” said Elder Humphries, one of the eight young missionaries, as he handed out FAQ sheets to new arrivals. “I just arrived here a few days ago and I never imagined this is what I would be doing to serve the people here in Del Rio.” Other volunteers helped with registrations while some administered the actual vaccines and others monitored people in the observation room.
Linda Walker, CEO of the Val Verde Regional Hospital, was responsible for most of the planning for the event. “At the hospital, we’ve administered 1,054 vaccines total since December 23rd. Today we hope to do that same amount in just ten hours.” She explained that there are approximately 50,000 residents in the county and they have a goal to eventually vaccinate half of that population. That means they will have to administer the vaccine twice to 25,000 people. “So you get an idea of the scale we’re dealing with here. We only get 975 doses in each shipment and everybody who receives it today will have to come back in three weeks to receive the second dose. This effort is going to extend well into the Summer so we have to build strong relationships with as many volunteer groups as we can get. Without them, this just wouldn’t be possible.”
At the end of the event, all of the volunteers gathered for a group photo to celebrate a good start to this extended effort. The organizers thanked all of them for their selfless efforts and announced that 1,134 shots actually had been administered during the clinic.
Eagle Pass District President Ross Davidson, who volunteered for the event with his wife Jolene, said, “As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are pleased to support our local communities with volunteer help and materials such as N95 masks and today’s efforts to overcome this devastating scourge that has impacted so many. We look forward to the day when we can all be free from the constraints and concerns of this pandemic. We will work diligently, in collaboration with our community partners, to hasten that day. Thank you to all our volunteers and missionaries who helped today and will help in future mass immunization efforts.”
Walker, Owens and Palau all agreed that maintaining a sufficient number of volunteers consistently for a period of many months will be their biggest challenge moving forward. Walker expressed confidence that the community will respond when called upon. “Sustainability of a mass-vaccination drive like this one depends entirely on being able to replace our volunteers as they begin to fall out. Typically when we put out a message that we need help, someone always steps forward, so I know we will be ok.”
