A grassroots public health campaign in Santa Rosa is targeting local Latino communities that may be hesitant to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
The campaign takes aim at fears and myths about vaccine through local artwork that’s been made into posters, flyers and banners.
“They tend to be, in general - and totally appropriately - more skeptical of anything that comes from the government or big institutions because of the historic systemic racism that’s been somewhat embedded in a lot of these systems,” said Dr. Brian Prystowsky, a pediatrician with Sutter Health.
Since the start of the outbreak last March, Latinos in Sonoma County have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. According to Sutter Health, Latinos are 27% of the local population but they currently comprise 65% of COVID-19 cases where the ethnicity or race of the infected person is known.
“The most outrageous of the conspiracy theories are that they’re going to tag these vaccines with ways to follow you around. I’ve heard people allege there’s an association with infertility with the vaccine. None of this is true,” he said.
That’s why Prystowsky is working to bridge the gap between the Santa Rosa Latino community and the medical community through positive messaging.
“It’s more effective to say to somebody when you’re a vaccine educator ‘this vaccine is going to allow you and your grandparents to get back together again’,” Prystowsky said. “That’s a much more personal message compared to saying ‘the data shows this vaccine is 95% effective’.”
Sutter Health has agreed to give $5,000 to support the effort by partnering with artists from Raizes Collective to display artwork at Sonoma County businesses. It’s just one way they hope to build trust within the community.
“It creates an ice breaker concept where you can begin to see this and be like ‘oh, this message is for me from people who are like me,” he said.
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