NBC4: Attempts to Reach Latinx Community with COVID-19 Vaccine

There has been some hesitancy in the Latinx community to take the COVID-19 vaccine.  Three issues that impact this are access to healthcare, language barriers and lack of trust in the health system.

NBC4 reporter Kenya Ramirez recently interviewed OhioHealth infectious disease physician, Edwin Vargas, MD, about what he experiences with his Latinx patients.

“Some of my patients do have poor access to care,” Dr. Vargas told NBC4. “Some others, despite knowing that they have the virus, they don’t have the way of isolating at home because they live in multigenerational homes where it is hard to isolate.”

Dr. Vargas said the language barrier is also very real for many.

“Lack of access to good information,” he told NBC4. “A lot of things are in English and some are in Spanish, but there is a level of literacy that you are required to understand. Do not know where to consult. Where to look them up. From what I know, we’ve been trying to reach out, trying to provide information both in Spanish and English. We’ve been trying to answer questions as much as possible.”

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