By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
In California, less than half of the Latino and African American community eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine have been vaccinated. This puts those vaccinated and children under 12 at increased risk from the Delta variant, making closing the racial gap in vaccination rates an urgent priority to protect the nation's health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"Unfortunately, there are dark spots in our fight against the pandemic. Older adults have accounted for a disproportionate number of COVID-19 deaths, particularly among the Latino community. There is a big gap in reaching this group and we want to make it happen," said California Department of Aging Director Kim McCoy Wade during a press conference held by the California Department of Aging. Ethnic Media Service.
Jorge Pingarrón, the representative of the organization All United, and who coordinates Stockton's low-income canvass, said that after completing 7,500 hours of canvassing in the community they have run into barriers such as extreme heat, the Northern California wildfires, which have also prevented some canvassing days, racism, physical altercations, and general harassment, all of which have worked against the effort to get the city vaccinated.
"We've gone above and beyond to address all these issues and continue our effort to try to get this city vaccinated. It's very difficult because of all the beliefs out there - a lot of people don't want to get vaccinated because they don't believe in the vaccine," she explained.
In that sense, he stressed that many people are simply anti-government, "there are people who are turning this into a political issue instead of seeing it as a human and health need.
Added to that, he said, are anti-vaccine groups and those who don't even believe COVID-19 exists, a situation that is exacerbated in a large number of underserved communities.
Pingarron said that of the 80,000 homes the organization has visited in Stockton, only 30 percent have been able to have a conversation, while of those only 1.0 percent have signed up to receive the vaccine.
"There is a lack of information from the government. It is necessary to provide it in the necessary languages to be able to cover all the populations that can be covered".
For Jorge, what has really worked so that more people opt for the vaccine, is the personal talk, because although it is not known which route to take the conversation "one must know how to respond appropriately and understand them, take the talk to a personal level so that they get vaccinated," he said.
He also explained that methods such as phone calls are difficult, because people perceive them as annoying and when they see the incoming number they relate them with advertising and do not answer or hang up quickly.
"But once you're there, they see you. And you're in your uniform, with the vaccine logo and the organization you represent with name badges. So it's a little bit easier to talk to them, try to engage them in conversation and convince them to get vaccinated, even though you run into different situations, but that's the best way," she stressed.
Fears and beliefs, the barriers to overcome among the Latino community
Irma R. Muñoz is the founder and executive director of "Mujeres de la Tierra", an environmental equity non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California, which has reached out to the community of MacArthur Park, a majority Latino community to inform them and bring them closer to vaccination.
One of the main challenges in the area is that the Latino community is afraid to give information because of their immigration status, she said, which is why many did not initially come forward to get the COVID-19 vaccine because they were asked for identification.
"No one wants to provide their ID because they think the next thing they know immigration authorities are going to be knocking on their doors to take them away," he explained.
She added that it is a working class neighborhood and most people are not available for appointments Monday through Saturday, and unfortunately there were no places that gave vaccinations on Sundays until recently.
The next big problem the organization detected was a deeply religious Latino community that does not believe in COVID-19, much less vaccines.
In that sense, he noted that the people of this town argue that their religious leaders have told them that vaccines are poison, coupled with a great distrust in government and authority.
And while they have been very successful in getting people vaccinated, he said, there is also a lot of resistance for a variety of religious and political reasons and for being discovered by "la migra," which they call high-risk situations.
"Our successes have been because we have casual conversations with people. We don't open the conversation by saying, we're here to talk to you about how to get vaccinated. Everyone shows up, but we don't do a door-to-door."
In fact, he explained, only 20 percent of the organization's work is done door-to-door because MacArthur Park residents are not answering the knocks on their doors, unless they are family or friends.
"What we have mainly done is what is called "mass campaigns". We go to the areas where people are. We don't expect people to come to us. So we go to the bus stops, we go to the subway station, where the vendors are, we go into the stores, we go to the parks because there's a lot of activity," he explained.
He added that a large population of children and young people play soccer, which has made it possible to talk to parents about coming to the vaccination centers that are open on Sundays.
"Now we've had more success because there are vaccinations on Sundays when most people are free and then they come and get them. This is word of mouth, we encourage the people we talk to to talk to their neighbors, to other family members, and to their church members to get vaccinated."
"It's the fear of the unknown. So what we're trying to do is take the fear out of people's hearts and put the facts in their head."
Muñoz said that even people who previously said no to the vaccine leave them phone numbers in case they change their minds.
"Our approach is multicultural, we don't use the same method for everyone. We really take into account their background, their language, their struggles. A lot of people have difficulties in their day to day lives and you have to recognize that. So these conversations that we've had have been very effective because the women who do them and who work for us live in MacArthur Park."
Reaching out to the oldest in the family is extremely important to reach the whole family, she said, because many times it's these older people who make the ultimate decision. "If they say yes, then it's OK for everyone else to get vaccinated."
Muñoz recalled that "this virus has killed thousands upon thousands of people, no matter what their economic status, no matter what religion they believe in, no matter what their immigration status, it doesn't discriminate. And this new variant is highly contagious. I think when people take it seriously is when, unfortunately, they know someone who has been in the hospital or has died from the virus.
Finally, she noted that since Women of the Earth has been doing this work, vaccination rates in MacArthur Park have increased by four percentage points.
"We want to make sure that we are succeeding and so we have to change our script based on what is happening. Our script now is that children are getting the Delta variant and that we have to vaccinate for the sake of our children."
Rural communities, a critical link in the immunization chain
Esperanza Vielma, executive director of the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water and who is deeply rooted in serving disadvantaged and underrepresented communities in the San Joaquin Valley, highlighted the tremendous work being done with the most underserved communities, which have large Latino and Asian populations.
He explained that these places are sought to reach the community in different ways: either by visiting Mexican and Asian markets in the area, making surveys and knocking door to door to bring the information of vaccines, which often does not arrive due to lack of internet or devices to resolve their doubts about immunization.
He recalled that this area also suffers from the contamination that fires generate, which complicates the situation with COVID-19.
"We have to collaborate with all of our agencies so that we get the same message out and get people vaccinated because that's going to be the only solution in very hard-to-reach areas."
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