The state’s data shows that communities of color are still not getting vaccinated at a high rate, but the big question is why? Colorado state data shows that about 72% of Coloradans are fully vaccinated so far, however, the vaccination rates in some communities are lagging far behind.
While the state’s white population has a vaccination rate of 68%, only about 11.75% of Latinos are vaccinated, and it’s even lower in the Black and Asian communities. Dr. Pamela Valenza at the Tepeyac Community Health Center said it comes down to many things, like misinformation. But it’s not just misinformation, it’s also about trust.
“I’ve had sometimes up to 3-4 conversations with one patient over a period of time about the vaccine,” Valenza said.
Valenza said over time many patients end up taking the information doctors give them and they eventually make a decision for themselves on the vaccine, but it takes time, sometimes even months before someone feels comfortable enough to make a decision. She also said for some of these communities it comes down to people not having transportation or they can’t afford to miss work, or they simply don’t feel comfortable going to a vaccination site.
“They prefer to go to some place that’s recognizable, somewhere that they know the staff members, and they know that if they have questions they can get them answered,” said Valenza.
But several organizations continue to try and bridge that gap, like Unidos U.S- Esperanza Hope For All. On Saturday the organization hosted a mobile tour in Aurora to give out COVID-19 vaccine information to the community.
“Sometimes we don’t have the right information and because of that we don’t do the right thing for ourselves,” said Erika Rivera, who was involved in setting up the mobile tour.
Valenza said from experience with the Latino community that face-to-face interaction seems to help with getting more people vaccinated, so the Tepeyac Community Health Center is going to continue doing door-to-door campaigns to get more people vaccinated.
