Eyewitness News anchor Mayra Moreno hosted the first of a two-night City Hall event Wednesday, focusing on the reluctance of our most underserved communities to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the CDC, blacks and Latinos are nearly three times more likely to die from COVID-19 complications than whites.
“Eighty percent of the patients I have in my COVID unit are Spanish or of Latin origin,” said Dr. Joseph Varon, chief medical officer at United Memorial Medical Center, said. “Everyone went to see their abuelas (grandmother) for Christmas. Every one of them.”
VACCINE TRACK: Track the availability and progress of vaccine COVID-19 in Houston
Varon said he was deeply upset by recent videos of large gatherings at pubs and clubs, and the continued resistance to wearing masks. But even more worrying, he said, is that people are not getting medical help early or planning to get the vaccine.
“When they come to me with two and a half weeks of symptoms, shortness of breath, fever, I say, ‘why didn’t you come early?'” Varon said. “There are three common reactions: if I go to the hospital, I will get COVID. If I go to the hospital, I will die. Soon, number three, why do I go to the hospital? It will cost me a lot of money.”
Varon said when it comes to vaccination and COVID-19 testing, many people are not aware that the federal government is carrying the bill.
“We come from a culture where we usually do not want to ask for help,” said Dr. Laura Murillo, president of the American Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Houston, said. “I can not begin to tell you how many conversations I have personally had to convince people to pay attention to the facts, the science.”
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Murillo said the Spanish community, while officials are working to make vaccinations more accessible, should police their behavior to curb hospitalizations, especially for our elderly and high-risk population.
“We come from homes where it’s a multi-generation household. Even if the grandmother stays at home, you have people in and out of the home,” Murillo said. “Yes, we want to get our community going again, small businesses, of course, but you are going to pay with your life or the life of a loved one if we do not take it seriously.”
State Representative Armando Walle, who serves as the COVID-19 recovery tsar of Harris County, acknowledged residents’ frustration over the slow pace of vaccine distribution, but promised that “help is on the way.”
After weeks of complaints and confusion over the appointment of vaccines, the city of Houston has begun its first drive-through vaccination site Monday at Del Mar Stadium. On Tuesday, Harris County opened registration for its vaccine waiting list.
“We apologize for the frustration,” Walle said. “I have a 90-year-old grandfather. I have a mother who already has conditions, so it’s personal to all of us.”
Walle said the province is waiting for the full force of President Joe Biden’s distribution plan, but everyone has a role to play in lowering the infection rate.
“I know we have COVID fatigue,” Walle said. “We have control. We have agency. We can wear a mask, right? We can limit the carne asadas, we can wash our hands.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and other panelists urged Austin to Houston leaders to consider creative ways to reach our Spanish neighborhoods, from door-to-door to registering those who cannot enter online for vaccinations, to the expansion of drive-to-vaccination sites. .
“Maybe go in a van with my little bar fridge and give the vaccines to people in their house,” Varon said. “If we do not reach a large number of people to be vaccinated, we will have more medical problems, we have more unusual strains of the virus and people will die in spite of the vaccine.”
The anchor of Eyewitness News, Chauncy Glover, presents two of Action 13 “COVID-19 Vaccine & Our Communities of Color” on Thursday night at 7 p.m. City Hall is co-produced with Xi Kappa Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., of Missouri City.
Thursday night’s city hall panel includes:
- State Representative Ron Reynolds, Texas House District 27
- Commissioner Grady Prestage, Fort Bend Co. District
- Dr. Jacquelyn Johnson Minter, Director of Health and Human Services at Fort Bend Co.
- Trustee Addie Heyliger, President of the ISD Management of Fort Bend
- Pastor Timothy Sloan, The Luke Church
- Casondra Burkley, LCSW, M.Div
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