Drive-Through Vaccination Organized by a Latina to Increase Vaccine Trust in Latino Communities

A three-day drive-through vaccination program for the Latino community was one of the many events held this weekend. The said program was held in hopes to close the class gap in vaccine distribution in Southwest Denver.

The event started on Friday outside Saint Cajetan Catholic Church and was set to be done on Sunday. A large part of the church's congregation is Latino, according to a CBS Local report.

"We started thinking about, what are some places we can actually utilize in the communities that need it the most where we can set up a site?" State Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez was quoted on a report.

Gutierrez was also reported to have helped the event. The drive through vaccination program was planned by a group of Latina leaders around the Denver area.

This was the second one of the drive-through vaccination programs. The first one was held at Servicios De La Raza last weekend.

Among the group who organized the event include State Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, State Sen. Julie Gonzales, city council members Amanda Sandoval and Jamie Torres, and Denver Public Schools board member Angela Cobián.

Some high school and college students were also involved in the program. The National Jewish Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also helped in getting the vaccines and administering it.

Latino Communities

In Los Angeles, a community clinic in a Latino neighborhood provides health services in Boyle Heights and Pico-Union.

The clinic is also serving communities that are disproportionately affected by the pandemic, which is pre-dominantly Spanish-speaking Latino and Indigenous people from Mexico and Centra America.

The clinic received a shipment of Moderna vaccines from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health last month, which are 100 shots for the clinic's 12,000 patients, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

However, the COVID-19 vaccines are in short supply. The decision of how to prioritize vaccination has becoming an increasingly uptight matter, especially to those communities hit hardest by the pandemic.

In California, Latino residents have been widely affected by the pandemic, with an estimated 40 percent of the state's population, representing 55 of its COVID cases, with 46 percent of its deaths from COVID-19.

Despite being widely affected by the pandemic, Latinos are not getting enough doses of the vaccine.

State officials said the reason for the lower vaccination rates in diverse communities is that many health care workers were prioritize for the first batch of the vaccines. Most of the health care workers are white.

However, even vaccine distribution to those 70 and older shows that there is still a wide racial disparity. Nearly 75 percent of the 70-plus group who have been vaccinated are white.

Just 3.5 percent are Latino and 1.2 percent are Black. In addition, about 18 percent are not identified by race or ethnicity, according to a CPR report.

The disparity is also shown at local levels. In Denver, wealthier and white neighborhoods have much higher vaccination rates for residents 70 and older than neighboring areas with more diversity.

Related story: WHO Releases COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan