June 9, 2021 • 33 mins
Historic and ongoing healthcare disparities -- along with vaccine misinformation -- contribute to a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy in the Hispanic community. In this episode, special guest host and award-winning journalist María Elena Salinas explores some of the causes and solutions for vaccine hesitancy among Hispanic Americans. She sits down with Travis Escobar, a Hispanic millennial who had to use patience and compassion to convince his mother to get vaccinated. Then, she speaks with Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable, Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Together, they discuss the barriers faced by the Hispanic community, and how listeners at home should approach their own friends and family for conversations about the COVID-19 vaccines.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community. Before we
kick off the show, here's the latest COVID nineteen vaccination
news at the time of this recording on Monday, June seven.
At the start of this week, more than three hundred
one million vaccines have been administered in the US. Over
half of American adults are now fully vaccinated. The CDC
(00:22):
recently updated mask guidelines. Fully vaccinated individuals can resume activities
without wearing a mask or physically distancing you are fully
vaccinated two weeks after your final dose. That's it for now,
enjoy the show. Hello, I'm Marie Lena Salinas, and welcome
Ben Beneathals to COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community, a
(00:46):
podcast series brought to you by the U S Department
of Health and Human Services. COVID nineteen Immunity in Our
Community was created to provide you with the groundbreaking science,
(01:07):
honest facts, and unvarnished truth about the deadly coronavirus and
the revolutionary vaccines that can put this pandemic behind us
so we can move forward. Today, we're talking about how
Hispanic Americans have been experiencing the COVID nineteen pandemic and
what is being done to close the healthcare gaps and
build trust in the community. This issue is deeply important
(01:31):
to me. I lost a family member to COVID nineteen
as well as several friends, and I have seen my
community devastated by the pandemic as so many in the
Latino community have been essential workers. So I'm proud to
be joining this episode as a guest host. The Hispanic
(01:57):
community has long faced dark disparities and health care access,
and today they're being hit harder by the COVID nineteen pandemic.
The City se reports that Hispanic Americans experienced the second
highest COVID nineteen hospitalization rate when compared with other ethnic groups.
Getting vaccinated against COVID is essential to ensuring the health
(02:18):
of our community, but many barriers stand in the way
of ideal vaccination rates. Are the safety facts and sign
up directions being properly communicated in the correct language? Are
there enough vaccination facilities in the neighborhood? Do people have
the time and transportation necessary to get to a facility
if it's far away. While vaccination programs are working to
(02:42):
close these gaps, there's still plenty of work to be
done to ensure vaccines are distributed equitably, even if they've
been vaccinated already. Many Hispanic folks also know the experience
of trying to convince a friend or an older relative
that COVID nineteen vaccines are safe. Due to a history
of medical injustice against people of color or a flood
(03:04):
of vaccine misinformation online, Hispanic Americans are more likely to
be hesitant about receiving a COVID nineteen vaccine. Travises Coba
knows that experience all too well. Today, we're going to
hear from Travis about how he ultimately convinced his mother
to get vaccinated and how he's continuing to conduct conversations
(03:25):
about the vaccine with his friends. Then it sat down
with Dr Elisio Petristabili, director of the National Institute on
Minority Health and Health Disparities. He explained the barriers we
need to overcome to reach the Hispanic community and how
listeners at home should approach their own friends and family
for conversations about the vaccine. So if you have questions
(03:49):
about COVID and vaccination, we have answers. Travis Escovat is
the founder of a networking organization in his home state
of Rhode Island. His own mother was hesitant to get
vaccinated against COVID nineteen in part because of the misinformation
(04:13):
that was circulating online. This included false claims like the
vaccine will alter your DNA or over reporting rare deaths
after the vaccine caused by unrelated factors. Using a combination
of strategies, Travis finally convinced his mother to make her appointment.
Now that they're both vaccinated, they're finally able to safely reunite.
(04:36):
Travis has taken his gentle, non judgmental tactics to some
of his hesitant friends and members of his community as
well to learn more about his experience with his mother.
Here's my conversation with Travis Escovat while I here, you
(05:00):
had a little trouble getting your mother to get vaccinated.
Tells us about your mother and her process of vaccination.
My mom has always been afraid of getting a shot
an he's any type of She's afraid of needles. Um,
so she wasn't really afraid of this particular vaccines. She
just afraid of needles. Well, she was. She was afraid
of needles. And you know, I think Historically there has
(05:22):
been sort of a fear of vaccines or sort of
a distrust of vaccines from black and Latino sort of community.
So I think especially during this time with with this
information out in social media or maybe even misleading headlines,
my mom definitely saw that and I think was impacted
by that. I would say for my mother, um, it
(05:44):
did take some convincing and UM, what I tried to
do is just sort of provide her the opportunity to
kind of do it. But I would say there was
it sort of took a took a village of individuals
to sort of help her get there, her doctors and
and um providing sort of that information of why these
vaccines and were safe. And I was so happy when
(06:07):
she was scheduled, and I was so happy to sort
of just take her to get her first and second shot.
So what was your approach and talking to her about
getting the vaccine? Yeah, so my approach was just to
be positive and understanding and patient. UM, and I had
actually gotten covid UH in the latter latter part of
(06:31):
so she was aware of that. And I think that
made the pandemic, you know, more real, right when you
have her as a mother, she sees her son sort
of get affected by this disease, and I think sort
of her concerns and worries we're lessening the more she
was able to sort of talk with people, but you know,
just just being patient and being positive with her. And
(06:54):
I think also another big factor for her was her
wanting to meet with other family and again get that,
forget that freedom not be so constrained in her house,
not necessarily be locked down in her house. She's also
a childcare worker as well, so her being out at
her job daily, you know, in the childcare centers being
(07:16):
open early in Rhode Island. You know, we knew that
she potentially could be more at risk of of getting
this disease. Now that you mentioned misinformation, we know that
in many parts of the country, people are not getting
vaccinated due to misinformation about the vaccine. What kind of
misinformation are you hearing in your community? And also what
(07:38):
was it that created that fear in your mother? What
did she hear, what did she believe? Yeah, I think
initially we saw in the media certain headlines where an
individual takes the vaccine and they died soon after. There
were multiple headlines like that, and they were very misleading
because there was no correlation between that in the visuals
(08:00):
on timely passing and them taking the vaccine. But in
our you know, unfortunate aspect where you know, clicks and
shares you know, lends to revenue for for a lot
of these media companies, I think those are conscious decisions
that that we saw, um, certain media outlets take and
(08:22):
for a lot of individuals, you share a headline that
becomes the headline, becomes in fact right instead of reading
into the article. UM. So I think that was definitely
um for a lot of people. And I would see
even within my own friend group, they would share those
headlines and then I'd read and I'd say, well, they
stayed here, like there's no correlation between you know, them
(08:45):
taking a vaccine and whatever happened to these certain individuals.
And we've seen multiple of those articles, and I think
it's up to the news media to be responsible. Um.
We've seen social media companies like Facebook and Pinterest, big
outlets be more responsible in terms of making sure that
they're not spreading misinformation around COVID. These the you know,
(09:07):
these companies that we've seen it in our and this
isn't anything new. We just recently just came off a
recent presidential election or recent election where that was a
major aspect, right, just a bunch of misinformation that gets
shared around between one candidate or the other, and it's
unfortunately kind of just see this spread into um, you know,
(09:31):
the the vaccine is sort of fighting this pandemic. What
disparities have shaped the access of people that, you know,
in getting the vaccine. I still think there's a certain
amount of just just fear, in distrust, and there's been
more within Rhode Island has been talk about you know,
(09:54):
millennials and and gen Z young people sort of feeling
that um that maybe they don't have to take the vaccine,
maybe sort of like COVID won't have necessarily impact with them,
or they can sort of just you know, just wait
on that. It's sort of tough because it's one of
those things right now where I think it's I'm working individually.
(10:15):
How do I share my story of like I took
the vaccine, I was able to get my mom and
she was able to get the vaccine, And how do
I share that on an individual basis? Right now? How
do I go at least within my network, at least
within you know, social media, whatever sort of outlets I have,
whatever sort of like networks I have, How do I
(10:36):
sort of share a positive story of you know, a
vaccines available. I took it. I didn't turn into a lizard,
you know, I didn't. I didn't get a third eye
or anything like that. I think in Rhode Island, especially
in our you know, communities of color, I think we're
at a situation where we need to sort of share
positive experiences for those who can and you know, have
(10:56):
a little bit of patients. Tell us about your experience
with their family members in the pandemic. What was it
like communicating with other members of your family or your community.
You say that you're thinking about how do I reach them?
How have you decided to reach them? I related the
new like pandemic messaging, especially we see on social media,
(11:17):
to what's sort of going on in politics. If some
if someone falsely believes in something that's negative about the vaccine,
I don't think it's coming at them harshly, right, I
don't I think if someone decides like, hey, I'm not
going to take the vaccine, I don't think it's I
don't think I'm saying, like acting like they're a bad
individual that they are. They're deciding not to take the vaccine.
(11:37):
For me, I think it's providing information, providing correct information
if you hear something that is misinformation, you know, to
try to connect them to sort of resources. Be positive
with individuals. I think if you sort of take a actually, um,
a friend of mine, shared experience, shared experience, Uh this,
(11:58):
this person is still thinking about taking the vaccine, still
hasn't you know, you know, decided. But this person was
in a group chat and they felt sort of attacked
and kind of left the group chat and kind of
buried themselves into the opinion like, oh maybe I shouldn't
take the vaccine. I think what we've seen with our
there is some comparisons I think to sort of the
(12:20):
political argument where people sort of just argued with one
another and kind of like, Okay, you agree with you
think this, and I think this, we're just gonna go
off into our own corners where this this shouldn't be
the attitude, the shouldn't be the energy that we take
in when we're when we're talking about everyone's health. Another
friend of mine who's cautious about getting the vaccine and say, hey,
(12:43):
you know, I'm gonna travel again. I know you love traveling.
We want to travel safely. We want to be able
and go out and experience nightlife and want to be
able to go out. And I was gonna ask you that,
what have your conversations been like? What have they sounded
like with people that you're trying to convince walk us
through those conversations. What do you tell them to convince
them to get the vaccine? Yeah, I mean in a
(13:04):
lot of times, I don't come on. I say, I'm
not going to judge you if you don't take the vaccine, right,
I'm not going to judge anyone, anyone of my friends.
I'm not gonna hold it against them. I'm going to
share with you that the vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. And
I want to go back to normal. I know you
want to go back to normal, especially for for young people. Um,
(13:27):
you we could still pass. You know, if you have
had you could still pass. This disease is someone who's
immune compromise or older individuals who maybe haven't had the
vaccine and they could have adverse reaction. And I kind
of just I try to just be a motivator, like
let's let's try to get past this pandemic. I try
(13:48):
to at least share with my friends that there is
light at the end of the tunnel and I want
you to be healthy. So how is your mom doing
now after her vaccine? My mom after her first and
second shot has been the same as she took visor.
She had a sore arm um, but that was about it.
I took her out to to to lunch. Both times
(14:12):
we're able to. We talked about life and that was
one of the you know, especially at the second time,
it was one of the times where I felt really
comfortable that just you know, I can really now think
about hanging out my mom in different ways of giving
her a hug and you know, not have that concern. Um.
She's in her sixties and it's you know, when when
you talk about you know, individual has gotten this disease,
(14:34):
it's like, if she gets it this, she could have
a really bad reaction. So it was a weight lifted
from my shoulders after the first shot. Like I I
teared up just a little bit. And I don't even
know I had that in me. My I didn't even
know I had like I had that emotion in me.
I was like, oh wow, Like I I wow, I'm
getting emotional right now, like watching my mom sort of
take this this first vaccine shot, right. But I guess
(14:57):
it was just all of that built in, oh for
the past year or so, and just understanding there's a
weight that's going to be lifted, um, over my shoulder,
and yeah, she's been great, She's been great. Travis, what
is the most important thing you want our listeners to
take away from this conversation? The most important thing is
(15:18):
if you have taken the vaccine and you have friends,
our loved ones that have not in our hesitant are
are are they just don't want to take the vaccine?
To be patient with them. These are individuals I'm sure
you love, so to show them love and say that
you care about their health, um, and to talk about
(15:42):
the things you want to do with them when the
world is more open and when we have more freedom
to do the things that whether it's traveling or concerts
or you know, going out to your your favorite bar
or whatever sort of activities, um, you enjoy doing way
uh for the people that are that people that listen
(16:03):
or maybe hesitant taking it. Just if you have friends
or family have taken a vaccine, definitely get their experience.
But you know, consult with your doctors and don't believe
everything you sort of see on social media are in
the news. Try to find the correct information and try
to try to be as wild research as possible and
(16:24):
making your decision, and try to think about, you know,
a world where we can sort of live without mask
and not have all this all this great fear. Thank you, Travis.
With over half of adults already receiving at least one
COVID vaccine those in America, we need to pull together
(16:47):
and use non judgmental tactics to convince vaccine skeptics and
increased vaccination rates to reach her community. Open honest discussions
about vaccine facts can help hesitant people decide to get vaccinated.
At the same time, we need to address the health
care disparities that are preventing the Hispanic community from easily
(17:08):
accessing the vaccines they need. Our next guest, Dr Eliseo
Petavli addressed both issues disparity and hesitancy. Dr Pettiestable is
a director of the National Institute on Minority Health and
Health Disparities. The institute conducts research to improve the health
of minority groups across the country and reduce health care disparities.
(17:33):
This work gives Dr Pettistavle a deep understanding of the
history and causest of health care gaps in the Hispanic community.
I asked them why these disparities exist and how we
can help address them. Then we talked about why research
shows a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy among Hispanic adults
and what listeners at home can do to help convince
(17:55):
themselves or the vaccine hesitant people in their lives. Here's
my converse station with Dr Eliso Petty Stable. Why has
there been a history of health care access disparities within
the Hispanic community in general? Well, Hispanics have been an
important demographic minority group within the US that grew exponentially
(18:20):
really after until probably now plateauing over the last few years. UH.
Much of it is immigration, but keep in mind that
sevent of Hispanics now living in the US today were
born in this country. And because of the type of
employment at level of education that occurs for the majority
(18:41):
of Hispanic groups coming in and there's variability. Um they
are often employed in positions that do not have health
insurance coverage as part of their benefits, so they have
the highest rate of uninsured of any group in the
United States right now. In addition, many came in with
out speaking English, and this limited English proficiency has been
(19:03):
a barrier. There are now many clinicians who do speak Spanish,
but initially there were very few and one had to
depend on interpreters or family members or friends to help
engage with a clinical visit. That lack of healthcare access
did that contribute to the fact that Latinos had such
(19:23):
high incidences of of COVID nineteen infections, hospitalizations, and deaths
in part. Yes, absolutely, the rate of infections is greater
at every age for Latinos compared to whites. This is
not because lack of insurance, but it's because of the
living conditions and the structural inequities. So again, the type
(19:48):
of work they had to go out. They had to
go work service jobs, construction, transportation, and therefore could not
have the luxury to basically telework I do UH and
stay home UH and do almost everything UH from a
safer environment. UH. They put themselves out for greater risk
(20:09):
also in healthcare and therefore more likely to be infected. Now,
if they got infected, they came back home to a
bigger household than most of us. A household with either
two families or three generations, and much more likely that
the Ahualo was infected or the other adults in the
household would be infected, because there's just no room in
(20:30):
most of these households to self isolate um and thus
be separate from the rest of the of the group.
The third factor is that most majority of Latinos live
in dense urban environments, so they're not living in uh
single family suburban homes or the yard. They're living in
buildings with ten floors of apartments and therefore are much
(20:53):
more likely to be around people, encountering people who are
strangers and therefore more likely to be exposed. Now after that,
the lack of access to healthcare or the limited access
does lead to delays in seeking care, and there's been
data showing that across the board for over the last year.
They present to clinical attention in a more advanced clinical condition.
(21:18):
For with COVID if the more shortness of breath, more pneumonia,
and therefore are more likely than to have to be hospitalized,
and of course that means it's a more severe case
and therefore higher likelihood of dying, and that's been true
across the board, across all ages for Latinos and other
actually other racial ethnic minority groups as well. Now that
(21:42):
all adults can get the vaccine, what are the challenges
that stand in the way of equitable vaccine access? Well, initially,
and I'll share my own story. I'm over sixty five,
so I said, Well, once the District of Columbia said
you can get a vaccine, I you know, get on
the website to try to get an appointment. It took
me three times, three tries to get an appointment. Uh,
(22:04):
and I live in a Quote Priorities zip code, so
one had to have the knowledge of how to do that,
have a computer, be patient, you know how to navigate
a little bit on the website. And when I did
get an appointment, I wasn't sure. I didn't get a confirmation,
so I called the number they said to call, and
the first thing I heard was there are three calls
ahead of you. So you can imagine that if you're working,
(22:26):
you just couldn't do that. That if you have to
take care of three kids, or you have other responsibilities
or older adult that you're that you're taken care of,
you couldn't do that. And for older adults, many are
not computer savvy, many don't have computers. They're used the
phone for their digital access. And the phone that they
are they're on a data plan, they're not unlimited. So
(22:48):
all these barriers were there that would have cost them
money to just get an appointment to go get a vaccine.
So with the supply being short, uh, initially the demand
was overwhelming and the people who got in to the
door first where those with more skills, more education, um
and more resources, and just that was just the way
(23:08):
it played out. Now we can correct it because now
we have plenty supply to vaccinate every single person in
the United States over sixteen who wants a vaccine and
who will accept the vaccine. Another thing that seems to
stand in the way is vaccine hesitancy. Now, what is
ani H doing to address the issues of mistrust and
(23:29):
misinformation about COVID ncteen and the vaccines. This vaccine hesitancy
has been on our priorities since last summer. The group
that had the highest rates of hesitancy have been the
African American community and partly related to historical mistrust, but
the Latinos were in between, and that proportion is probably
(23:50):
not gonna go much below of people who when you
ask them, will you take a vaccine for COVID, they'll
say probably not, or deaf only not. The reasons for
hesitancy are complicated. We actually launched a program to study
it with research projects, not to see why, but actually
to address it, to intervene. And these are grants are
(24:13):
about to be UH funded now and because it's not
just gonna be COVID, but it's also going to be
possibly the flu vaccine, another respiratory virus in the future,
the hepatitis vaccine. I mean, there are other vaccines that
also we should be getting be more effective. So I
think that those reasons why people are hesitant need to
(24:33):
be a studied addressed and find ways to intervene to
to avoid that UM. But there's also a lot of
misinformation and UH AT n n H. We launched the
Community Engage Alliance Research Alliance Against COVID nineteen last summer
with the National Heart Long VOWE Institute. Dr Derry Gibbons
and I co lead that we have programs in eleven
(24:55):
states right now and are about the fund ten additional sites.
The main goal we had was to address misinformation to
really build trust in science and trusted messengers. And the
trusted messengers that people rely on the most are your
local doctor, your your local nurse. Of course Dr Facci
(25:18):
is always good to have, but we really rely on
local regional experts to provide this kind of advice. And
we have seen that professional community really step up to
the plate UH in contributing to this. And it goes
all the way from health related professionals to community leaders,
to faith based leaders, UM and and yes, and celebrities
(25:41):
and athletes can also help and pitch in on this.
So we we feel comfortable with the progress we have
made in this. How should we approach the hesitant Hispanic
community to convince them to get vaccinated? Well, I think
that the experience we have is to be clear, simple language, act,
base on the science that we know, address any misinformation,
(26:05):
don't consider any question to be you know, that's a
dumb question. Oh that's no we we I Do you
think that that someone's going to inject a microchip into you? Well,
you don't laugh at off you say, no, that's not possible.
We don't. We don't do that. That's never been developed.
At What we do is it's injective protein that has
instructions for ourselves than to manufacture the antibodies against the
(26:27):
COVID NINETEAM. I think that we as scientists and and
doctors UM have the experience that we can explain things
in a way that is clear and understandable by everyone
and not be using jargon or scientific terminology that no
one's going to really understand, just to make it look
like we really know a lot. And that's the way
(26:49):
I dealt with patients UH a lot of the time
when I was practicing medicine UM in my prior job.
And I think the same principles apply in public health
can munication on this So address specific concerns, whatever they
may be, make sure you reassure them on all of them.
Just go with the facts. Don't try to pretend that
(27:10):
oh no, it's okay, don't worry, it's never gonna know.
You tell them what side effects are, what the processes,
where the material came from, how the manufacturing happened. You know,
people say, well, how did you get to a vaccine
so quickly? Well, it was because there have been twenty
years of research that led to the discovery of this platform.
(27:31):
This did not come out of the air. This did
not happen over three months. Um. It really did to
take a lot of effort basic research to develop this platform,
and in many ways it is a huge advancement in
science that we were able to mobilize our scientific knowledge
to get to this point as we continue to try
to control the pandemic. Right, if some people are not
(27:58):
even believing doctors, what's listeners at home? Keep in mind,
if they're trying to convince a hesitant family member, how
do they talk to them, How did they convince them? Well,
in the science and the practice of persuading people to
change behavior, we know generally that badgerying doesn't work. People
(28:18):
will You'll give them the facts, You give them the information,
and you say I'm here for any questions. Uh. And
we have to give people space and time. I learned
that from working with smokers, for example, about you know,
quitting smoking, and and that for all the times I
would say, well, you gotta do it for this, you
gotta do it for that, you know, until they were ready,
(28:41):
they wouldn't do it. And with enough time and patients, UH,
successfully saw many long time smokers kind of reach a
point where they were they able to quit. That's not
exactly the same thing with the vaccine hesitancy. But I
do think that, um, we can't really force people to do.
This have to be voluntary. They have to be willing,
(29:02):
and they have to be ready and and sometimes they
also prize us and they say, okay, I'm ready. The
other the other strategy that will work is to create
the opportunity that they don't have to plan it. So
you can say, oh, you go to the doctor for
something else. Oh, by the way, we have the COVID vaccine.
Do you do you want it? And in that spur
of the moment, they may all that all that all
(29:23):
that they have heard from about trying to get the
vaccine make kick in and they say, okay, well I'm
here anyway, so might as well. And so I think
that's another way of doing or reaching out to people
very proactively. So not the person who's trying to convince you,
but a new person who says, we're giving vaccines today.
We're going visiting people at their home or at the
(29:45):
community center. Uh, and we're offering you you want to
roll up your sleeve or you know. And I think
sometimes that structural approach can be effective as well, what
the buddy system work. Let's go together? Or why I
don't you and my tea go and get the vaccine together?
Or your neighbor absolutely can work. And I think that
(30:07):
that's a great suggestion. Uh so maybe two people are afraid,
but then together they can give each other more more
karak and and and really get to the to the
to the vaccine and say, okay, let's do it. You know,
maybe they can have someone else who helps them. But
I think that's a great suggestion of how to how
(30:27):
to do this as well. So not force, not badger,
but inform, be patient, uh and be supportive. Thank you,
Dr Thank you, mad Elie. It's time to start a
(30:52):
conversation with the people in your life who have questions
about the vaccines and alleviate their concerns, find the root
of their head sitency, and share the facts without judgment.
At the same time, the systems that distribute vaccines will
keep improving to make it easier for you to book
your appointment. If you haven't been vaccinated yet, you can
(31:13):
lead by example, like Dr Pettiestablis said, getting vaccinated against
COVID nineteen is essential, even if you're young. It helps
secure your own safety and the safety of everyone around you.
(31:35):
To get vaccinated, go to vaccines dot gov for vacunas
punto hey over and click find COVID vaccines or in
Quinte vaccuna conte covidin very The site will help you
determine where you can get the vaccine and how to
make an appointment. You can get vaccinated regardless of your
immigration status or if you have health insurance. You don't
(31:58):
have to worry about paying for your vaccine. Your taxpayer
dollars are funding the rollout, so there's no individual cost
to you. If someone asks you to provide your insurance information,
that's only so your vaccination provider can build your insurance
for the administrative cost, but you will not be personally
responsible for any expenses. I'd like to thank our guest
(32:21):
Travis Escovat and Dr Eliseo Ferristavli for sharing their thoughts
and their expertise with us today. Tune in next time
for episode seven. COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community was
(32:45):
developed and paid for by the U. S Department of
Health and Human Services, part of a public education campaign
to increase public confidence in COVID nineteen vaccines. While reinforcing
basic prevention measures. We can do This, Presented by I
Heart Radio. The episode was executive produced by Ethan Fixel.
(33:06):
It was written, engineered, edited, and mixed by Adie Allard,
with original theme music by Brad Kemp, with research assistance
by Alessandra Teja. If you haven't already subscribed, rated, or
reviewed COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community, please do so
on the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
(33:26):
you get your podcast. I'm Marie Lena Salinas and this
is COVID nineteen Immunity in our Community. Thank you for listening.
Grass Yes
Welcome to COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community. Before we
kick off the show, here's the latest COVID nineteen vaccination
news at the time of this recording on Monday, June seven.
At the start of this week, more than three hundred
one million vaccines have been administered in the US. Over
half of American adults are now fully vaccinated. The CDC
(00:22):
recently updated mask guidelines. Fully vaccinated individuals can resume activities
without wearing a mask or physically distancing you are fully
vaccinated two weeks after your final dose. That's it for now,
enjoy the show. Hello, I'm Marie Lena Salinas, and welcome
Ben Beneathals to COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community, a
(00:46):
podcast series brought to you by the U S Department
of Health and Human Services. COVID nineteen Immunity in Our
Community was created to provide you with the groundbreaking science,
(01:07):
honest facts, and unvarnished truth about the deadly coronavirus and
the revolutionary vaccines that can put this pandemic behind us
so we can move forward. Today, we're talking about how
Hispanic Americans have been experiencing the COVID nineteen pandemic and
what is being done to close the healthcare gaps and
build trust in the community. This issue is deeply important
(01:31):
to me. I lost a family member to COVID nineteen
as well as several friends, and I have seen my
community devastated by the pandemic as so many in the
Latino community have been essential workers. So I'm proud to
be joining this episode as a guest host. The Hispanic
(01:57):
community has long faced dark disparities and health care access,
and today they're being hit harder by the COVID nineteen pandemic.
The City se reports that Hispanic Americans experienced the second
highest COVID nineteen hospitalization rate when compared with other ethnic groups.
Getting vaccinated against COVID is essential to ensuring the health
(02:18):
of our community, but many barriers stand in the way
of ideal vaccination rates. Are the safety facts and sign
up directions being properly communicated in the correct language? Are
there enough vaccination facilities in the neighborhood? Do people have
the time and transportation necessary to get to a facility
if it's far away. While vaccination programs are working to
(02:42):
close these gaps, there's still plenty of work to be
done to ensure vaccines are distributed equitably, even if they've
been vaccinated already. Many Hispanic folks also know the experience
of trying to convince a friend or an older relative
that COVID nineteen vaccines are safe. Due to a history
of medical injustice against people of color or a flood
(03:04):
of vaccine misinformation online, Hispanic Americans are more likely to
be hesitant about receiving a COVID nineteen vaccine. Travises Coba
knows that experience all too well. Today, we're going to
hear from Travis about how he ultimately convinced his mother
to get vaccinated and how he's continuing to conduct conversations
(03:25):
about the vaccine with his friends. Then it sat down
with Dr Elisio Petristabili, director of the National Institute on
Minority Health and Health Disparities. He explained the barriers we
need to overcome to reach the Hispanic community and how
listeners at home should approach their own friends and family
for conversations about the vaccine. So if you have questions
(03:49):
about COVID and vaccination, we have answers. Travis Escovat is
the founder of a networking organization in his home state
of Rhode Island. His own mother was hesitant to get
vaccinated against COVID nineteen in part because of the misinformation
(04:13):
that was circulating online. This included false claims like the
vaccine will alter your DNA or over reporting rare deaths
after the vaccine caused by unrelated factors. Using a combination
of strategies, Travis finally convinced his mother to make her appointment.
Now that they're both vaccinated, they're finally able to safely reunite.
(04:36):
Travis has taken his gentle, non judgmental tactics to some
of his hesitant friends and members of his community as
well to learn more about his experience with his mother.
Here's my conversation with Travis Escovat while I here, you
(05:00):
had a little trouble getting your mother to get vaccinated.
Tells us about your mother and her process of vaccination.
My mom has always been afraid of getting a shot
an he's any type of She's afraid of needles. Um,
so she wasn't really afraid of this particular vaccines. She
just afraid of needles. Well, she was. She was afraid
of needles. And you know, I think Historically there has
(05:22):
been sort of a fear of vaccines or sort of
a distrust of vaccines from black and Latino sort of community.
So I think especially during this time with with this
information out in social media or maybe even misleading headlines,
my mom definitely saw that and I think was impacted
by that. I would say for my mother, um, it
(05:44):
did take some convincing and UM, what I tried to
do is just sort of provide her the opportunity to
kind of do it. But I would say there was
it sort of took a took a village of individuals
to sort of help her get there, her doctors and
and um providing sort of that information of why these
vaccines and were safe. And I was so happy when
(06:07):
she was scheduled, and I was so happy to sort
of just take her to get her first and second shot.
So what was your approach and talking to her about
getting the vaccine? Yeah, so my approach was just to
be positive and understanding and patient. UM, and I had
actually gotten covid UH in the latter latter part of
(06:31):
so she was aware of that. And I think that
made the pandemic, you know, more real, right when you
have her as a mother, she sees her son sort
of get affected by this disease, and I think sort
of her concerns and worries we're lessening the more she
was able to sort of talk with people, but you know,
just just being patient and being positive with her. And
(06:54):
I think also another big factor for her was her
wanting to meet with other family and again get that,
forget that freedom not be so constrained in her house,
not necessarily be locked down in her house. She's also
a childcare worker as well, so her being out at
her job daily, you know, in the childcare centers being
(07:16):
open early in Rhode Island. You know, we knew that
she potentially could be more at risk of of getting
this disease. Now that you mentioned misinformation, we know that
in many parts of the country, people are not getting
vaccinated due to misinformation about the vaccine. What kind of
misinformation are you hearing in your community? And also what
(07:38):
was it that created that fear in your mother? What
did she hear, what did she believe? Yeah, I think
initially we saw in the media certain headlines where an
individual takes the vaccine and they died soon after. There
were multiple headlines like that, and they were very misleading
because there was no correlation between that in the visuals
(08:00):
on timely passing and them taking the vaccine. But in
our you know, unfortunate aspect where you know, clicks and
shares you know, lends to revenue for for a lot
of these media companies, I think those are conscious decisions
that that we saw, um, certain media outlets take and
(08:22):
for a lot of individuals, you share a headline that
becomes the headline, becomes in fact right instead of reading
into the article. UM. So I think that was definitely
um for a lot of people. And I would see
even within my own friend group, they would share those
headlines and then I'd read and I'd say, well, they
stayed here, like there's no correlation between you know, them
(08:45):
taking a vaccine and whatever happened to these certain individuals.
And we've seen multiple of those articles, and I think
it's up to the news media to be responsible. Um.
We've seen social media companies like Facebook and Pinterest, big
outlets be more responsible in terms of making sure that
they're not spreading misinformation around COVID. These the you know,
(09:07):
these companies that we've seen it in our and this
isn't anything new. We just recently just came off a
recent presidential election or recent election where that was a
major aspect, right, just a bunch of misinformation that gets
shared around between one candidate or the other, and it's
unfortunately kind of just see this spread into um, you know,
(09:31):
the the vaccine is sort of fighting this pandemic. What
disparities have shaped the access of people that, you know,
in getting the vaccine. I still think there's a certain
amount of just just fear, in distrust, and there's been
more within Rhode Island has been talk about you know,
(09:54):
millennials and and gen Z young people sort of feeling
that um that maybe they don't have to take the vaccine,
maybe sort of like COVID won't have necessarily impact with them,
or they can sort of just you know, just wait
on that. It's sort of tough because it's one of
those things right now where I think it's I'm working individually.
(10:15):
How do I share my story of like I took
the vaccine, I was able to get my mom and
she was able to get the vaccine, And how do
I share that on an individual basis? Right now? How
do I go at least within my network, at least
within you know, social media, whatever sort of outlets I have,
whatever sort of like networks I have, How do I
(10:36):
sort of share a positive story of you know, a
vaccines available. I took it. I didn't turn into a lizard,
you know, I didn't. I didn't get a third eye
or anything like that. I think in Rhode Island, especially
in our you know, communities of color, I think we're
at a situation where we need to sort of share
positive experiences for those who can and you know, have
(10:56):
a little bit of patients. Tell us about your experience
with their family members in the pandemic. What was it
like communicating with other members of your family or your community.
You say that you're thinking about how do I reach them?
How have you decided to reach them? I related the
new like pandemic messaging, especially we see on social media,
(11:17):
to what's sort of going on in politics. If some
if someone falsely believes in something that's negative about the vaccine,
I don't think it's coming at them harshly, right, I
don't I think if someone decides like, hey, I'm not
going to take the vaccine, I don't think it's I
don't think I'm saying, like acting like they're a bad
individual that they are. They're deciding not to take the vaccine.
(11:37):
For me, I think it's providing information, providing correct information
if you hear something that is misinformation, you know, to
try to connect them to sort of resources. Be positive
with individuals. I think if you sort of take a actually, um,
a friend of mine, shared experience, shared experience, Uh this,
(11:58):
this person is still thinking about taking the vaccine, still
hasn't you know, you know, decided. But this person was
in a group chat and they felt sort of attacked
and kind of left the group chat and kind of
buried themselves into the opinion like, oh maybe I shouldn't
take the vaccine. I think what we've seen with our
there is some comparisons I think to sort of the
(12:20):
political argument where people sort of just argued with one
another and kind of like, Okay, you agree with you
think this, and I think this, we're just gonna go
off into our own corners where this this shouldn't be
the attitude, the shouldn't be the energy that we take
in when we're when we're talking about everyone's health. Another
friend of mine who's cautious about getting the vaccine and say, hey,
(12:43):
you know, I'm gonna travel again. I know you love traveling.
We want to travel safely. We want to be able
and go out and experience nightlife and want to be
able to go out. And I was gonna ask you that,
what have your conversations been like? What have they sounded
like with people that you're trying to convince walk us
through those conversations. What do you tell them to convince
them to get the vaccine? Yeah, I mean in a
(13:04):
lot of times, I don't come on. I say, I'm
not going to judge you if you don't take the vaccine, right,
I'm not going to judge anyone, anyone of my friends.
I'm not gonna hold it against them. I'm going to
share with you that the vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. And
I want to go back to normal. I know you
want to go back to normal, especially for for young people. Um,
(13:27):
you we could still pass. You know, if you have
had you could still pass. This disease is someone who's
immune compromise or older individuals who maybe haven't had the
vaccine and they could have adverse reaction. And I kind
of just I try to just be a motivator, like
let's let's try to get past this pandemic. I try
(13:48):
to at least share with my friends that there is
light at the end of the tunnel and I want
you to be healthy. So how is your mom doing
now after her vaccine? My mom after her first and
second shot has been the same as she took visor.
She had a sore arm um, but that was about it.
I took her out to to to lunch. Both times
(14:12):
we're able to. We talked about life and that was
one of the you know, especially at the second time,
it was one of the times where I felt really
comfortable that just you know, I can really now think
about hanging out my mom in different ways of giving
her a hug and you know, not have that concern. Um.
She's in her sixties and it's you know, when when
you talk about you know, individual has gotten this disease,
(14:34):
it's like, if she gets it this, she could have
a really bad reaction. So it was a weight lifted
from my shoulders after the first shot. Like I I
teared up just a little bit. And I don't even
know I had that in me. My I didn't even
know I had like I had that emotion in me.
I was like, oh wow, Like I I wow, I'm
getting emotional right now, like watching my mom sort of
take this this first vaccine shot, right. But I guess
(14:57):
it was just all of that built in, oh for
the past year or so, and just understanding there's a
weight that's going to be lifted, um, over my shoulder,
and yeah, she's been great, She's been great. Travis, what
is the most important thing you want our listeners to
take away from this conversation? The most important thing is
(15:18):
if you have taken the vaccine and you have friends,
our loved ones that have not in our hesitant are
are are they just don't want to take the vaccine?
To be patient with them. These are individuals I'm sure
you love, so to show them love and say that
you care about their health, um, and to talk about
(15:42):
the things you want to do with them when the
world is more open and when we have more freedom
to do the things that whether it's traveling or concerts
or you know, going out to your your favorite bar
or whatever sort of activities, um, you enjoy doing way
uh for the people that are that people that listen
(16:03):
or maybe hesitant taking it. Just if you have friends
or family have taken a vaccine, definitely get their experience.
But you know, consult with your doctors and don't believe
everything you sort of see on social media are in
the news. Try to find the correct information and try
to try to be as wild research as possible and
(16:24):
making your decision, and try to think about, you know,
a world where we can sort of live without mask
and not have all this all this great fear. Thank you, Travis.
With over half of adults already receiving at least one
COVID vaccine those in America, we need to pull together
(16:47):
and use non judgmental tactics to convince vaccine skeptics and
increased vaccination rates to reach her community. Open honest discussions
about vaccine facts can help hesitant people decide to get vaccinated.
At the same time, we need to address the health
care disparities that are preventing the Hispanic community from easily
(17:08):
accessing the vaccines they need. Our next guest, Dr Eliseo
Petavli addressed both issues disparity and hesitancy. Dr Pettiestable is
a director of the National Institute on Minority Health and
Health Disparities. The institute conducts research to improve the health
of minority groups across the country and reduce health care disparities.
(17:33):
This work gives Dr Pettistavle a deep understanding of the
history and causest of health care gaps in the Hispanic community.
I asked them why these disparities exist and how we
can help address them. Then we talked about why research
shows a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy among Hispanic adults
and what listeners at home can do to help convince
(17:55):
themselves or the vaccine hesitant people in their lives. Here's
my converse station with Dr Eliso Petty Stable. Why has
there been a history of health care access disparities within
the Hispanic community in general? Well, Hispanics have been an
important demographic minority group within the US that grew exponentially
(18:20):
really after until probably now plateauing over the last few years. UH.
Much of it is immigration, but keep in mind that
sevent of Hispanics now living in the US today were
born in this country. And because of the type of
employment at level of education that occurs for the majority
(18:41):
of Hispanic groups coming in and there's variability. Um they
are often employed in positions that do not have health
insurance coverage as part of their benefits, so they have
the highest rate of uninsured of any group in the
United States right now. In addition, many came in with
out speaking English, and this limited English proficiency has been
(19:03):
a barrier. There are now many clinicians who do speak Spanish,
but initially there were very few and one had to
depend on interpreters or family members or friends to help
engage with a clinical visit. That lack of healthcare access
did that contribute to the fact that Latinos had such
(19:23):
high incidences of of COVID nineteen infections, hospitalizations, and deaths
in part. Yes, absolutely, the rate of infections is greater
at every age for Latinos compared to whites. This is
not because lack of insurance, but it's because of the
living conditions and the structural inequities. So again, the type
(19:48):
of work they had to go out. They had to
go work service jobs, construction, transportation, and therefore could not
have the luxury to basically telework I do UH and
stay home UH and do almost everything UH from a
safer environment. UH. They put themselves out for greater risk
(20:09):
also in healthcare and therefore more likely to be infected. Now,
if they got infected, they came back home to a
bigger household than most of us. A household with either
two families or three generations, and much more likely that
the Ahualo was infected or the other adults in the
household would be infected, because there's just no room in
(20:30):
most of these households to self isolate um and thus
be separate from the rest of the of the group.
The third factor is that most majority of Latinos live
in dense urban environments, so they're not living in uh
single family suburban homes or the yard. They're living in
buildings with ten floors of apartments and therefore are much
(20:53):
more likely to be around people, encountering people who are
strangers and therefore more likely to be exposed. Now after that,
the lack of access to healthcare or the limited access
does lead to delays in seeking care, and there's been
data showing that across the board for over the last year.
They present to clinical attention in a more advanced clinical condition.
(21:18):
For with COVID if the more shortness of breath, more pneumonia,
and therefore are more likely than to have to be hospitalized,
and of course that means it's a more severe case
and therefore higher likelihood of dying, and that's been true
across the board, across all ages for Latinos and other
actually other racial ethnic minority groups as well. Now that
(21:42):
all adults can get the vaccine, what are the challenges
that stand in the way of equitable vaccine access? Well, initially,
and I'll share my own story. I'm over sixty five,
so I said, Well, once the District of Columbia said
you can get a vaccine, I you know, get on
the website to try to get an appointment. It took
me three times, three tries to get an appointment. Uh,
(22:04):
and I live in a Quote Priorities zip code, so
one had to have the knowledge of how to do that,
have a computer, be patient, you know how to navigate
a little bit on the website. And when I did
get an appointment, I wasn't sure. I didn't get a confirmation,
so I called the number they said to call, and
the first thing I heard was there are three calls
ahead of you. So you can imagine that if you're working,
(22:26):
you just couldn't do that. That if you have to
take care of three kids, or you have other responsibilities
or older adult that you're that you're taken care of,
you couldn't do that. And for older adults, many are
not computer savvy, many don't have computers. They're used the
phone for their digital access. And the phone that they
are they're on a data plan, they're not unlimited. So
(22:48):
all these barriers were there that would have cost them
money to just get an appointment to go get a vaccine.
So with the supply being short, uh, initially the demand
was overwhelming and the people who got in to the
door first where those with more skills, more education, um
and more resources, and just that was just the way
(23:08):
it played out. Now we can correct it because now
we have plenty supply to vaccinate every single person in
the United States over sixteen who wants a vaccine and
who will accept the vaccine. Another thing that seems to
stand in the way is vaccine hesitancy. Now, what is
ani H doing to address the issues of mistrust and
(23:29):
misinformation about COVID ncteen and the vaccines. This vaccine hesitancy
has been on our priorities since last summer. The group
that had the highest rates of hesitancy have been the
African American community and partly related to historical mistrust, but
the Latinos were in between, and that proportion is probably
(23:50):
not gonna go much below of people who when you
ask them, will you take a vaccine for COVID, they'll
say probably not, or deaf only not. The reasons for
hesitancy are complicated. We actually launched a program to study
it with research projects, not to see why, but actually
to address it, to intervene. And these are grants are
(24:13):
about to be UH funded now and because it's not
just gonna be COVID, but it's also going to be
possibly the flu vaccine, another respiratory virus in the future,
the hepatitis vaccine. I mean, there are other vaccines that
also we should be getting be more effective. So I
think that those reasons why people are hesitant need to
(24:33):
be a studied addressed and find ways to intervene to
to avoid that UM. But there's also a lot of
misinformation and UH AT n n H. We launched the
Community Engage Alliance Research Alliance Against COVID nineteen last summer
with the National Heart Long VOWE Institute. Dr Derry Gibbons
and I co lead that we have programs in eleven
(24:55):
states right now and are about the fund ten additional sites.
The main goal we had was to address misinformation to
really build trust in science and trusted messengers. And the
trusted messengers that people rely on the most are your
local doctor, your your local nurse. Of course Dr Facci
(25:18):
is always good to have, but we really rely on
local regional experts to provide this kind of advice. And
we have seen that professional community really step up to
the plate UH in contributing to this. And it goes
all the way from health related professionals to community leaders,
to faith based leaders, UM and and yes, and celebrities
(25:41):
and athletes can also help and pitch in on this.
So we we feel comfortable with the progress we have
made in this. How should we approach the hesitant Hispanic
community to convince them to get vaccinated? Well, I think
that the experience we have is to be clear, simple language, act,
base on the science that we know, address any misinformation,
(26:05):
don't consider any question to be you know, that's a
dumb question. Oh that's no we we I Do you
think that that someone's going to inject a microchip into you? Well,
you don't laugh at off you say, no, that's not possible.
We don't. We don't do that. That's never been developed.
At What we do is it's injective protein that has
instructions for ourselves than to manufacture the antibodies against the
(26:27):
COVID NINETEAM. I think that we as scientists and and
doctors UM have the experience that we can explain things
in a way that is clear and understandable by everyone
and not be using jargon or scientific terminology that no
one's going to really understand, just to make it look
like we really know a lot. And that's the way
(26:49):
I dealt with patients UH a lot of the time
when I was practicing medicine UM in my prior job.
And I think the same principles apply in public health
can munication on this So address specific concerns, whatever they
may be, make sure you reassure them on all of them.
Just go with the facts. Don't try to pretend that
(27:10):
oh no, it's okay, don't worry, it's never gonna know.
You tell them what side effects are, what the processes,
where the material came from, how the manufacturing happened. You know,
people say, well, how did you get to a vaccine
so quickly? Well, it was because there have been twenty
years of research that led to the discovery of this platform.
(27:31):
This did not come out of the air. This did
not happen over three months. Um. It really did to
take a lot of effort basic research to develop this platform,
and in many ways it is a huge advancement in
science that we were able to mobilize our scientific knowledge
to get to this point as we continue to try
to control the pandemic. Right, if some people are not
(27:58):
even believing doctors, what's listeners at home? Keep in mind,
if they're trying to convince a hesitant family member, how
do they talk to them, How did they convince them? Well,
in the science and the practice of persuading people to
change behavior, we know generally that badgerying doesn't work. People
(28:18):
will You'll give them the facts, You give them the information,
and you say I'm here for any questions. Uh. And
we have to give people space and time. I learned
that from working with smokers, for example, about you know,
quitting smoking, and and that for all the times I
would say, well, you gotta do it for this, you
gotta do it for that, you know, until they were ready,
(28:41):
they wouldn't do it. And with enough time and patients, UH,
successfully saw many long time smokers kind of reach a
point where they were they able to quit. That's not
exactly the same thing with the vaccine hesitancy. But I
do think that, um, we can't really force people to do.
This have to be voluntary. They have to be willing,
(29:02):
and they have to be ready and and sometimes they
also prize us and they say, okay, I'm ready. The
other the other strategy that will work is to create
the opportunity that they don't have to plan it. So
you can say, oh, you go to the doctor for
something else. Oh, by the way, we have the COVID vaccine.
Do you do you want it? And in that spur
of the moment, they may all that all that all
(29:23):
that they have heard from about trying to get the
vaccine make kick in and they say, okay, well I'm
here anyway, so might as well. And so I think
that's another way of doing or reaching out to people
very proactively. So not the person who's trying to convince you,
but a new person who says, we're giving vaccines today.
We're going visiting people at their home or at the
(29:45):
community center. Uh, and we're offering you you want to
roll up your sleeve or you know. And I think
sometimes that structural approach can be effective as well, what
the buddy system work. Let's go together? Or why I
don't you and my tea go and get the vaccine together?
Or your neighbor absolutely can work. And I think that
(30:07):
that's a great suggestion. Uh so maybe two people are afraid,
but then together they can give each other more more
karak and and and really get to the to the
to the vaccine and say, okay, let's do it. You know,
maybe they can have someone else who helps them. But
I think that's a great suggestion of how to how
(30:27):
to do this as well. So not force, not badger,
but inform, be patient, uh and be supportive. Thank you,
Dr Thank you, mad Elie. It's time to start a
(30:52):
conversation with the people in your life who have questions
about the vaccines and alleviate their concerns, find the root
of their head sitency, and share the facts without judgment.
At the same time, the systems that distribute vaccines will
keep improving to make it easier for you to book
your appointment. If you haven't been vaccinated yet, you can
(31:13):
lead by example, like Dr Pettiestablis said, getting vaccinated against
COVID nineteen is essential, even if you're young. It helps
secure your own safety and the safety of everyone around you.
(31:35):
To get vaccinated, go to vaccines dot gov for vacunas
punto hey over and click find COVID vaccines or in
Quinte vaccuna conte covidin very The site will help you
determine where you can get the vaccine and how to
make an appointment. You can get vaccinated regardless of your
immigration status or if you have health insurance. You don't
(31:58):
have to worry about paying for your vaccine. Your taxpayer
dollars are funding the rollout, so there's no individual cost
to you. If someone asks you to provide your insurance information,
that's only so your vaccination provider can build your insurance
for the administrative cost, but you will not be personally
responsible for any expenses. I'd like to thank our guest
(32:21):
Travis Escovat and Dr Eliseo Ferristavli for sharing their thoughts
and their expertise with us today. Tune in next time
for episode seven. COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community was
(32:45):
developed and paid for by the U. S Department of
Health and Human Services, part of a public education campaign
to increase public confidence in COVID nineteen vaccines. While reinforcing
basic prevention measures. We can do This, Presented by I
Heart Radio. The episode was executive produced by Ethan Fixel.
(33:06):
It was written, engineered, edited, and mixed by Adie Allard,
with original theme music by Brad Kemp, with research assistance
by Alessandra Teja. If you haven't already subscribed, rated, or
reviewed COVID nineteen Immunity in Our Community, please do so
on the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
(33:26):
you get your podcast. I'm Marie Lena Salinas and this
is COVID nineteen Immunity in our Community. Thank you for listening.
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