PORTLAND, Ore. — Latino Network has launched a hotline for the Latinx community to make vaccine appointments in Spanish.
Staff with Latino Network can help make appointments for callers at community-centered events, pharmacies and clinics in the tri-county area.
Black and Latinx communities continue, a year and some into the pandemic, to be under-vaccinated due to many factors like overall vaccine hesitancy, vaccine information being readily available in only English, a lack of access to online tools to make an appointment, and a language barrier for some.
“The share of vaccinations received by Hispanic people is similar to or higher than their share of deaths in most reporting states, although in some states it continues to be lower,” a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) said. “For example, in Colorado, 11% of vaccinations have gone to Hispanic people, while they account for 41% of cases, 25% of deaths, and 22% of the total population in the state.”
In Oregon, Hispanic people have received 8% of the vaccinations while they make up 34% of all the cases in the state and 11% of the deaths and 13% of the overall population. You can check statistics broken down by race from KFF here.
The Biden administration has stated that getting a vaccine will not affect a person’s immigration status. Likewise, there is no need for insurance to receive the vaccine, a message that has been reported to be lost in translation to some minority and BIPOC communities.
You or someone you know can call the hotline at 833-822-7828. Latino Network hopes to get the number out to help as many Spanish speaking Oregonians in the tri-county area as possible.
