Local organizations educating minority groups facing barriers about vaccine information

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- La Casa de Amistad in South Bend making an effort to educate minority groups about vaccinations.

La Casa de Amistad hosted an informative Facebook live for the Latino community in Indiana on Thursday in collaboration with the Indiana Latino Institute, IU health and 19 other Latino organizations.

They focused specifically on the low-vaccination rate in Latino communities.

“Statistics that say about 16 % of Hispanics in the United States only had the luxury to work from home. So, these other workers are on the front-line of the battle, with the chance of getting contacted with COVID. In the Elkhart country, we have 16.8% of Hispanics and but the 51% of the cases were in Hispanic communities so the number tripled compared to the small population of them,” said Liliana Quintero, Executive Director of Northern Indiana Hispanic Health Coalition.

They also touched on language barriers and a lack of internet access as two major factors contributing to a lower vaccination rate in Latino communities.

Other obstacles included misinformation and misconceptions, the fear of deportation and a lack of education about the COVID-19 shots.

“The education portion of the vaccine is super important. I think we are not going to be able to change people’s minds about what they hear in the community or the way that they feel, the mistrust that they have in the government or health agencies without actually giving them the facts,” said Humberto Delgado, Assistant Executive Director at La Casa de Amistad.

Delgado volunteers at the Hedwig Memorial Center where he says they haven't seen as many members of the Latino community as they would like to see.

“If we could have more people willing to do it, or to volunteer, or to share their experience even...I think that also another good thing we could do as a community, ‘like I got my vaccine, I'm protected, you should get it too.’ The more that you say it, the more that people will be willing to do it themselves,” Delgado said.