Hialeah, Florida, EE.UU.
Rigoberto Montesinos was so concerned about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine that he initially refused to get it. The impact caused by the death of two close friends from coronavirus complications made him change his mind.
But when he finally decided to get vaccinated, the veteran Bay of Pigs invasion fighter couldn’t get the doses where he lives, in Hialeah, a town near Miami, where 95% of the residents are Latino. He made a shift in Miami Beach, about 30 minutes away, but it was canceled without explanation. After weeks of trying, he finally got the first dose of the vaccine last week.
“At my age and with the worsening virus, I cannot risk myself,” said the 82-year-old Cuban exile, who took part in the 1961 attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.
From elderly Cuban-Americans in Florida to agricultural workers in California, Latinos face serious obstacles in receiving COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, posing public health risks as the virus changes and spreads.
Like others who are not white, the more than 60 million Latinos living in the United States have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and face barriers to getting vaccinated, including a lack of knowledge about immunization. Internet of state governments with no instructions in Spanish, problems finding twists and turns in their communities, and the fear of being detained by the immigration police.
States, cities and counties fight to ensure that people of color, people living in poverty and other low-income communities are vaccinated, targeting vulnerable areas specifically, and working with community groups to register these people. In Arizona, where language is a barrier for some Latinos and English is the only way to register on the state’s Internet sites, an Arizona State University researcher is working on an online campaign in Spanish with the goal of getting information about the vaccine clarify.
Latinos, like other groups, are also frustrated that vaccines aren’t enough.
Luis Morejon, a 70-year-old cousin of Montesinos, was looking for a way to get the vaccine in Miami last week. Cancer has resurfaced and he also has diabetes, just like his wife.
“We hid in the house for a year,” Morejon said.
Anxiety
An AP-NORC survey of American adults in January found that nearly half of Hispanics and blacks in the United States are extremely or deeply concerned that they or their family members could get sick from COVID-19. In comparison, four in ten white Americans think the same.
The research found that Latinos’ willingness to be vaccinated is comparable to Americans in general. About 65% of Latinos said they are sure or likely to get the vaccine if it is available to them, or have already had at least one of the two doses.
With a trend of health problems that include diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, Latinos represent one of the groups most at risk of contracting COVID-19 and dying from the complications in the United States. And it is not only a problem for them, but also for the health of the rest of the population.
“The virus doesn’t discriminate, we have to vaccinate everyone,” said Gilberto López, a researcher at Arizona State University who is trying to expose misconceptions about the vaccine in the Spanish language. “Otherwise it will keep mutating and we will never be able to stop it,” he said.
In New York, doctors Víctor Peralta and Ingrid Félix-Peralta, who are married, last week vaccinated against COVID-19 in a public housing for the elderly. They did this through the SOMOS network, a group of doctors who provide care to minorities with few resources.
“Hispanics represent a large portion of our workers who are on the front lines. They work in supermarkets, restaurants, in the food industry and they work during the day, so it is difficult for them to find the time to get vaccinated, ”said Peralta.
KNOWING MORE
NO WORD
The American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has requested authorization in the EU for its coronavirus vaccine, the European Health Agency (EMA) reported Tuesday.
Japan
Japan confirmed on Wednesday that it will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines, initially reserved for a small number of hospital staff, while the rest of the population will have to wait weeks or even months.
Scandal
Peru’s President Francisco Sagasti announced on Monday that 487 people in the country have been irregularly vaccinated against Covid-19, including two ministers and other government officials. Peru is embroiled in an alleged corruption scandal
in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic.