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Municipal Management
#ElPasoStrong:
How this west Texas town is fighting COVID-19, one shot at a time By LAUREN CAGGIANO | The Municipal
Cities, towns and states have been on a mission this year to get their residents vaccinated, and some campaigns have been more effective than others. El Paso, Texas, however, serves as a shining example of what success can look like. Laura Cruz Acosta, strategic communications director with the city of El Paso, said the numbers speak for themselves. As of the time of press, almost 71% of the population 12 and older was fully vaccinated, and 83% have had their first dose. Perhaps even more encouraging is the fact that 88% of the population age 65 and older are fully vaccinated. And about 96% of this cohort have had at least their first vaccine dose. “We’re doing very well in terms of the vaccination rates, and we want to continue that trend in our community,” she said. “So, we’re pushing out continuously the need for the community to get vaccinated and also get tested.” To that end, Acosta said the city has been intentional in its approach in uniting various city departments to bring vaccines to the masses. “Our fire department and our public health department have been working very closely in terms of vaccinating and testing individuals,” she said. “And in coordination with all of that, we have several other different departments involved in different areas of the COVID-19 response.” For example, she attributes the high vaccination rates to specific efforts. “What we’ve done is that we’ve gone doorto-door in some of the critical areas,” she said. 54 THE MUNICIPAL | OCTOBER 2021
The city of El Paso has made both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines available to the public. (Photo provided by the city of El Paso)
“We’ve collaborated with nursing homes and long-term homes in our community. We’ve also been very collaborative with our school districts. Our school districts have been very helpful in terms of helping us get the word out and helping make sure that we have pop-up vaccination (sites).” Concerning the latter, Acosta said the city held pop-up vaccination events in different parts of the community, in addition to permanent sites that are available MondaySaturday. El Paso has a vaccine site at the convention center downtown, which offers later hours. Speaking of availability, Acosta said officials are nimble enough to adjust to the expanding or shrinking demand from residents. “We adjust the hours so that we fit the needs of the community in a lot of ways,” she said. “We describe it like an accordion — it expands and contracts as a community needs change. When we were seeing our numbers decrease
Strategic Communications Director Laura Cruz Acosta said the EPStrong.org website has been critical in achieving El Paso’s high vaccination rate. (Photo provided by the city of El Paso)
