El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego announced a meeting this Monday with the Mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Cruz Pérez Cuéllar, and the team of Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos, to plan a binational vaccination event for children. and Mexican minors.
According to the judge, the event aims to immunize around 25,000 children from Juarez at the Marcelino Serna port of entry, in Tornillo, Texas, on a date yet to be decided.
Samaniego said vaccinating the children would likely involve a two-shot dose unless El Paso gets the Johnson & Johnson vaccine again. So far only Pfizer’s product has been approved by the US health authorities for use by children.
“We are talking about a million dollars as part of the project, unless we get Johnson & Johnson,” said Samaniego.
The judge said children must be accompanied at the port of entry by a parent, posing a challenge for authorities, as most homes in Juárez consist of two working parents.
“We are all ready. The director of bridges for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has expressed his support. The mayor of Juárez too, we have the vaccines and the space. We only need the logistics, ”Samaniego said.
“I am going to hold a meeting with the consul of Mexico. We are going to solve the challenges ”, he added.
Although there is still no date set for the start of the vaccination day, something similar to what happened a few months ago is intended.
Last July, in a vaccination event at the same border crossing, more than 35,000 maquiladora workers were inoculated in an effort to increase vaccination rates at the border.
There were 25 companies that participated and the vaccines came from the excess supply of biological in the County of El Paso and which had a cost of 500 thousand dollars. The Juárez Maquiladora Association raised the funds.
The Government of Mexico does not contemplate as a health policy to vaccinate those under 18 years of age to prevent the coronavirus; the few exceptions have been children with high-risk health conditions, whose parents have had to sue the authorities many times in court.
Given this situation, El Paso’s intervention is likely to have an immediate positive impact south of the border.
El Paso would also benefit because at least some minors who cross would have received protection to prevent the spread of the virus.
The revocation on Monday, November 8, of the non-essential border travel restrictions exempts Mexican minors traveling with a vaccinated adult from demonstrating that they are vaccinated against Covid-19.
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