Democratic Party demands state, city audits of El Paso’s ‘unacceptable’ vaccination efforts

EL PASO, Texas -- The El Paso County Democratic Party chairperson on Monday called for both state and city investigative audits into El Paso's Covid-19 vaccination efforts.

It comes as ABC-7 has received numerous complaints from viewers who say they registered for the vaccine in December and have not yet been called back by the city for appointments.

Meanwhile, these viewers claim they have neighbors who registered more recently and have already received the vaccine.

"After 30 days of recurring city glitches and media reporting on a multitude of resident's concerns, it is completely unacceptable and incomprehensible that this life saving program is not meeting the need of the community," said Democratic Party chairperson Dora Oaxaca.

Oaxaca points to a Jan. 5 El Paso City Council meeting where she says the city admitted to launching a process with glitches and poor coordination.

Oaxaca believes that in order to ensure an improved process, there needs to be an immediate examination of El Paso’s vaccine allocation and disbursement program including the City of El Paso, University Medical Center, Immunize El Paso, Centro de Salud La Fe and Centro San Vicente.

"While there has been a significant effort by all parties to disperse the vaccine, there continues to be significant issues and obstacles to the fair distribution of the vaccine," Oaxaca wrote in a letter to state officials.

The El Paso County Democratic Party is asking both the Texas Department of State Health Services and the city auditor to conduct investigative audits of El Paso's vaccination efforts to include:

• Outreach and notification process
• Registration and timeline process
• Criteria process
• Selection and vetting process
• Disbursement process

Oaxaca also questioned the city's so-called "honor system" that does not demand anyone actually prove they have underlying health conditions that make them eligible for a vaccination.

She said that too needs to be assessed to determine if it is a contributing factor for potential abuse.