Vaccine Hesitancy In Some Communities Continues To Be A Hurdle For Local Officials
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) - More than half of Latino residents in Orange County remain unvaccinated, while local health officials are ramping up efforts to bring mobile clinics to neighborhood centers like schools and grocery store parking lots to combat vaccine hesitancy.
"We want to meet them where they're at," Isabel Becerra, CEO of the Coalition of OC Community Health Centers, told CBSLA's Hermela Aregawi. "We want to make sure that we bring the vaccines to them, break down all the barriers, make sure that there's nothing logistically that's keeping them from accessing the vaccine."
Officials say that while logistical issues, like transportation, language barriers and the digital divide, are the main hurdles, they are still addressing concerns about the vaccine itself.
"What new illnesses are going to arise as a result of getting the vaccine, either for myself or for my children," is one question Becerra hears frequently and say that a lot of those fears are based on hearsay.
However, there are those in the Latino community who have gotten vaccinated and are encouraging others to do the same.
"My daughter, she's a nurse. So, she kind of convinced us that that was the right thing to do. And from day one, I actually trust the vaccination. I believe in vaccinations," Gil Celis said.
