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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo will put a stop to an $11 million vaccine outreach contract.
Harris County hired a company called Elevated Strategies to do "targeted vaccine community outreach," which Hidalgo said was too politicized.
"The way it’s being politicized is getting in the way of getting people vaccinated," Hidalgo said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "It’s really sad, but it’s the truth of the matter. We need to focus on so many other efforts."
Commissioners Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey expressed confusion as to how the contract went to Elevate Strategies though the firm submitted an unfavorable bid amount and registered a score lower than the University of Texas Health Science Center, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Fox26Houston claimed that "at least 12 Elevate subcontractors were past political operatives for Democratic campaigns or organizations including those for Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton."
Political Analyst Mark Jones criticized Hidalgo.
"This has never been about the health of Harris County residents," Jones said, according to Fox26Houston. "It's about the political operations of Lina Hidalgo and her supporters in 2022."
Click2Houston reports that a Hidalgo spokesperson said she did not know Elevates Strategies founder, Felicity Pereyra, despite a few instances of the two interacting.
The spokesperson also said that the voting and bidding process were "by the books," according to Click2Houston.
“It’s my understanding that in order to cancel a contract, we’re going to have to discuss it and cancel in court,” Commissioner Tom Ramsey, who voted in favor of hiring Elevates said, Click2Houston reported. “We did not know the amount of the contract. Originally, we did not know who the subs were. We did not know that UT Health had been disqualified."
Republican members on the Harris County Commissioners Court accuse Hidalgo of giving the contract to a Democratic firm with no public health expertise, according to the Houston Chronicle.