The border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego is experiencing an unusual dynamic. Every day, dozens of visa-free workers from the Mexican city pass to the other side, where no border agent requests any documentation from them. They are in the United States for less than an hour and do not advance more than 20 meters from the border line. Actually, just enough time for them to be given the coronavirus vaccine, they are under medical observation for 20 minutes, and they return to Mexico.
More than 10,000 workers from companies such as Coca-Cola, Sempra Energy or Poly (formerly Plantronics), among others, have so far received a dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, donated by San Diego County, thanks to a program organized by the Council for the Development of Tijuana (CDT), the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry (Canacintra) and other business organizations, together with the Mexican consulate in San Diego, and which is the result of several months of conversations with the American authorities. The goal is to reach 23,000 protected workers by June 17, the date on which, in principle, the initiative will end.
Since the pandemic began, the Mexican consulate in San Diego has collaborated with the county’s public health offices and even opened a COVID-19 testing point and a vaccination center. “It was a natural evolution that we, when it became apparent that the county was heading for an oversupply of vaccines, asked about the possibility of using some of its surpluses,” says Carlos González, Mexican consul in San Diego.
At the beginning of May, the US authorities confirmed that they were able to donate Johnson & Johnson vaccines, a single dose, as long as the Mexican side took care of the costs of the process and logistics, since the vaccination had to be carried out. out in San Diego.
Luis Lutteroth, president of the CDT, explains that a cost of 60 dollars per vaccinated person was established, which does not cover the cost of the dose, but the payment of the salary of the medical personnel who applies it, as well as the necessary furniture and logistics for transportation of employees. The consulate requested the support of the University of California San Diego Health, the same team that organized the mass vaccination site at the Padres ballpark. Payment is made by each participating company directly to the university.
“The workers arrive, vaccinate them, wait 15-20 minutes and go back to Mexico. And from there they leave in trucks to their companies, ”says Lutteroth.
In a first phase, which began on May 24 (days before the announcement that the United States would donate one million doses to Mexico), 10,000 people from six American manufacturing companies in Tijuana were vaccinated. The CDT and the Canacintra wanted there to be few companies, but with many workers, to have greater control of the process, of which there were no previous experiences. Those selected were the first to say yes.
Once the first 10,000 vaccines were exhausted, the County of San Diego advised that they could continue with another 15,000, of which Tijuana business organizations expect to be able to apply between 12,000 and 13,000 before the deadline. The number of companies that participate will depend on how the vaccination progresses, but for now there are more than 15 and it has already been opened to other sectors, such as restaurants, shops, transport and logistics.
“We made an open call, our interest is to vaccinate as many collaborators as possible and we are looking for how we can achieve it and that everything is transparent. It is also a matter of reaction, the first companies that answer, enter ”, affirms Jorge Figueroa, president of the Canacintra of Tijuana.
The organization is not simple, you have to take into account the shifts of the production lines and how to carry out the process without suffering production. In addition, it is a coordinated work with customs and the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Figueroa points out the importance of a program that allows younger workers to be vaccinated, who are not yet on the federal government’s vaccination schedule, since the average age of the industry is between 18 and 25 years old. In the case of Poly, for example, it managed to vaccinate almost 80% of its workers. Thus, says the president of the Canacintra, companies can implement other production schemes, “more attached to normal”, even with the protocols of the federal and state health secretariats.
The plants in Tijuana have expanded the number of shifts to have fewer people in the factories, as the regulations indicate. And this increase in lines and times has meant an extra operating cost for companies. Some have even expanded their 24-hour operations to space out shifts.
As part of the process, in addition, the CDT, the Canacintra, the rest of the business chambers of the city and the consulate managed to donate another 350 to society for every 10,000 vaccines. Thus, police, firefighters and public transport personnel are being vaccinated.
Until next Thursday, the day on which this second and, so far, the last phase of vaccination closes, just over 5% of the 450,000 employees of the manufacturing companies in the state of Baja California will have passed through the border. , according to Lutteroth.
The chambers and the consulate will try to negotiate a third round of vaccines. But this will be known from June 21, when it is decided whether to extend the restrictions for land crossings for people with a tourist visa. “The immigration authorities have told us that they cannot commit beyond the 17th, until they see what will happen,” says the Mexican consul.
