UTRGV School of Medicine and UT Health RGV will administer the COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday on the Brownsville campus to Rio Grande Valley residents, continuing its expansion of its vaccination sites.
On April 6, dozens of people lined up outside of the Interdisciplinary Academic Building on the Brownsville campus to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs for the UTRGV School of Medicine and chief medical Officer for UT Health RGV, Dr. Michael Dobbs, said more than 1,700 doses were administered in Brownsville.
Dobbs explains the reason the Brownsville campus was not used in the earlier phases.
“We have two sites that the state determined to be vaccine hubs for UTRGV, UT Health RGV, one of those is Edinburg and the other is Harlingen,” he said. “Almost all of the vaccine sent to us is Pfizer, and … during the first stage of the vaccine rollout, we were under pretty strict instructions to not move that Pfizer vaccine, because it had to stay an ultra-cold storage and certainly you don’t want to lose its effectiveness.”
Dobbs said it was discovered that it took more than removing the vaccine from its ultra-cold storage for it to spoil.
“We are so happy that it turns out it’s not necessary to do that and … we’re able to move the vaccine around safely and give it to people effectively in other places such as in Brownsville,” he said.
Mass Communication junior Javier Jimenez was among the people waiting outside the building to receive the Pfizer vaccine on April 6.
Jimenez shares his thoughts on UTRGV providing the vaccine in Brownsville.
“I think it’s a good thing because, I know some of my friends had to go all the way to Edinburg or Harlingen, and it is kind of inconvenience when you have to go … Edinburg is like … one hour and a half, but yeah, I think it’s great,” he said.
Dobbs suggests to take advantage of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It may save your life, and it may save the lives of many other people around you,”
