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The idea of a mobile vaccination unit for the Hays County Local Health Department surfaced in 2018.
The staff was looking for ways to improve vaccination rates for children in vulnerable communities and felt a mobile unit would allow the health department to connect with more community members who were unable and/ or reluctant to come to the clinic. Identifying a funding source — upwards of $280,000 — was the challenge.
When COVID-19 arrived in Hays County in 2020, HCLHD secured funding for additional staff and mass vaccine clinics. According to Director Tammy Crumley, one source was a grant from the St. David’s Foundation. That organization provided the department with $100,000 for vaccine distribution and administrative support in June 2021.
Then in July 2021, federal COVID-related funding became available, which helped offset the costs originally intended to be covered by the St. David’s Foundation grant. As a result, Crumley went back to the foundation to alter the original request, retargeting it toward the purchase of a mobile vaccine unit. The foundation approved the budget amendment, but the additional funding needed — roughly $180,000 — was still elusive.
Hays County Commissioner Dr. Michelle Cohen, Pct. 2, took office in January. It was not long after that when County Commissioners Lon Shell, Pct. 3, and Walt Smith, Pct. 4, offered Cohen $200,000 each of their remaining portions of American Rescue Plan Act funding, a federal grant for COVID-related expenses and revenue losses.
According to the Hays County Budget Office, each member of the Hays County Commissioners Court originally received an allotment of funds, approximately $8.5 million per precinct and $10.7 million for county-wide projects, to be distributed as they deemed appropriate and with court approval.
Cohen offered a portion of that funding, totaling $90,413, to the health department to help cover the remaining cost of the mobile vaccination unit.
“I knew I wanted to help bring that mobile vaccination clinic to fruition,” she said. “Having the ability to use ARPA funds for something that will allow us to bring COVID-19 vaccinations and other types of vaccines to the most vulnerable in our community was a nobrainer.”
She collaborated with Commissioner Debbie Gonzales-Ingalsbe, Pct. 1, who also contributed $90,413 from her allotted ARPA funds towards the mobile vaccine van.
The final purchasing decision was issued by the court on Feb. 27.
Receiving the vehicle, according to Crumley, will take several months, but, “In the end, this mobile unit will allow us to provide even better service to our residents and help improve our overall health within the county. And that is worth the wait.”
