0:00

Welcome to COVID nineteen Immunity

0:02

in Our Community. Before we kick off the

0:04

show, here's the latest COVID nineteen

0:07

vaccination news at the time of this

0:09

recording on Monday, June seven. At

0:12

the start of this week, more than three hundred

0:14

one million vaccines have been administered

0:16

in the US. Over half of American

0:19

adults are now fully vaccinated.

0:21

The CDC recently updated mask

0:24

guidelines. Fully vaccinated

0:26

individuals can resume activities without

0:28

wearing a mask or physically distancing

0:31

you are fully vaccinated two weeks

0:33

after your final dose. That's it

0:35

for now, enjoy the show. Hello,

0:40

I'm Marie Lena Salinas, and welcome Ben

0:42

Beneathals to COVID nineteen Immunity

0:45

in Our Community, a podcast series

0:47

brought to you by the U S Department of Health

0:49

and Human Services. COVID

1:02

nineteen Immunity in Our Community was created

1:04

to provide you with the groundbreaking science,

1:07

honest facts, and unvarnished

1:09

truth about the deadly coronavirus and

1:12

the revolutionary vaccines that

1:14

can put this pandemic behind us

1:16

so we can move forward. Today,

1:19

we're talking about how Hispanic Americans

1:21

have been experiencing the COVID nineteen pandemic

1:24

and what is being done to close the healthcare gaps

1:27

and build trust in the community. This

1:30

issue is deeply important to me. I

1:32

lost a family member to COVID nineteen as

1:35

well as several friends, and I have

1:37

seen my community devastated by the

1:39

pandemic as so many in the Latino

1:41

community have been essential workers. So

1:43

I'm proud to be joining this episode as

1:46

a guest host. The

1:56

Hispanic community has long faced dark

1:58

disparities and health care access,

2:01

and today they're being hit harder

2:03

by the COVID nineteen pandemic. The

2:05

City se reports that Hispanic Americans

2:08

experienced the second highest COVID nineteen

2:10

hospitalization rate when compared

2:12

with other ethnic groups. Getting

2:15

vaccinated against COVID is essential

2:17

to ensuring the health of our community,

2:20

but many barriers stand in the way of

2:22

ideal vaccination rates. Are

2:24

the safety facts and sign up directions

2:27

being properly communicated in the correct

2:29

language? Are there enough vaccination

2:31

facilities in the neighborhood? Do

2:33

people have the time and transportation

2:36

necessary to get to a facility

2:38

if it's far away. While vaccination

2:41

programs are working to close these gaps,

2:43

there's still plenty of work to be done to

2:45

ensure vaccines are distributed equitably,

2:49

even if they've been vaccinated already. Many

2:52

Hispanic folks also know the experience

2:54

of trying to convince a friend or an older

2:56

relative that COVID nineteen vaccines

2:59

are safe. Due to a history

3:01

of medical injustice against people of color

3:04

or a flood of vaccine misinformation

3:06

online, Hispanic Americans

3:08

are more likely to be hesitant about

3:11

receiving a COVID nineteen vaccine. Travises

3:14

Coba knows that experience all too well.

3:16

Today, we're going to hear from Travis

3:19

about how he ultimately convinced

3:21

his mother to get vaccinated and

3:23

how he's continuing to conduct conversations

3:25

about the vaccine with his friends.

3:28

Then it sat down with Dr Elisio

3:30

Petristabili, director of the National

3:33

Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

3:36

He explained the barriers we need

3:38

to overcome to reach the Hispanic community

3:41

and how listeners at home should approach

3:43

their own friends and family for conversations

3:46

about the vaccine. So if

3:49

you have questions about COVID and vaccination,

3:51

we have answers. Travis

4:02

Escovat is the founder of a networking organization

4:04

in his home state of Rhode Island. His

4:07

own mother was hesitant to get vaccinated

4:09

against COVID nineteen in part

4:12

because of the misinformation that was circulating

4:14

online. This included false claims

4:17

like the vaccine will alter your DNA

4:20

or over reporting rare deaths

4:22

after the vaccine caused by unrelated

4:24

factors. Using a combination

4:26

of strategies, Travis finally

4:28

convinced his mother to make her appointment.

4:31

Now that they're both vaccinated, they're

4:33

finally able to safely reunite.

4:36

Travis has taken his gentle, non

4:38

judgmental tactics to some of

4:40

his hesitant friends and members of his

4:42

community as well to learn more

4:45

about his experience with his mother. Here's

4:47

my conversation with Travis Escovat

4:59

while I here, you had a little trouble getting your mother

5:01

to get vaccinated. Tells us about

5:03

your mother and her process

5:05

of vaccination. My mom has always

5:07

been afraid of getting a shot an he's

5:10

any type of She's afraid of needles. Um,

5:13

so she wasn't really afraid of this particular

5:15

vaccines. She just afraid of needles. Well,

5:18

she was. She was afraid of needles. And you know, I

5:20

think Historically there has been

5:22

sort of a fear of vaccines

5:24

or sort of a distrust of vaccines from

5:27

black and Latino sort of community. So I think

5:29

especially during this time with with this information

5:33

out in social media or maybe even misleading

5:35

headlines, my mom definitely

5:37

saw that and I think was impacted

5:40

by that. I would say for

5:42

my mother, um, it did take

5:44

some convincing and UM, what I tried

5:47

to do is just sort of

5:49

provide her the opportunity to kind of do

5:51

it. But I would say there was it sort of

5:53

took a took a village of individuals

5:56

to sort of help her get there, her

5:58

doctors and and um providing

6:00

sort of that information of why these

6:03

vaccines and were safe. And

6:05

I was so happy when she was scheduled,

6:08

and I was so happy to sort of just take her to

6:10

get her first and second shot. So

6:13

what was your approach and talking to

6:15

her about getting the vaccine? Yeah,

6:17

so my approach was just

6:20

to be positive and understanding and patient.

6:22

UM, and I had actually

6:24

gotten covid UH in the

6:27

latter latter part of so

6:31

she was aware of that. And I think that

6:33

made the pandemic,

6:35

you know, more real, right when you have her

6:38

as a mother, she sees her son sort

6:40

of get affected by this disease,

6:43

and I think sort of her concerns and worries

6:45

we're lessening the more she was able

6:48

to sort of talk with people, but you know, just

6:50

just being patient and being positive

6:53

with her. And I think also another

6:55

big factor for her was her

6:57

wanting to meet

6:59

with other family and again get that, forget

7:02

that freedom not be so constrained in

7:04

her house, not necessarily be locked down in her house.

7:07

She's also a childcare worker as

7:09

well, so her being out

7:13

at her job daily, you know, in the childcare

7:15

centers being open early in

7:17

Rhode Island. You know, we knew that she

7:20

potentially could be more at risk of of

7:22

getting this disease. Now that you mentioned

7:25

misinformation, we know that in many parts of the

7:27

country, people are not getting vaccinated due

7:29

to misinformation about the vaccine. What

7:32

kind of misinformation are you hearing

7:35

in your community? And also

7:37

what was it that created

7:39

that fear in your mother? What did she hear,

7:42

what did she believe? Yeah, I

7:44

think initially we saw in the media

7:47

certain headlines where an

7:49

individual takes the vaccine and

7:52

they died soon after. There

7:54

were multiple headlines like that, and they were very

7:56

misleading because there was no correlation between

7:59

that in the visuals on timely

8:01

passing and them taking the vaccine.

8:03

But in our you

8:06

know, unfortunate aspect

8:08

where you know, clicks and shares you

8:10

know, lends to revenue

8:13

for for a lot of these media companies, I

8:15

think those are conscious decisions that

8:17

that we saw, um, certain media

8:19

outlets take and for

8:22

a lot of individuals, you share a headline that becomes

8:25

the headline, becomes in fact

8:27

right instead of reading into

8:30

the article. UM. So

8:32

I think that was definitely um

8:34

for a lot of people. And I would see

8:37

even within my own friend group, they would share

8:39

those headlines and then I'd read and

8:41

I'd say, well, they stayed here, like there's no correlation

8:44

between you know, them taking

8:46

a vaccine and whatever happened to these

8:48

certain individuals. And we've seen multiple of

8:50

those articles, and I think it's up

8:52

to the news media to be responsible. Um.

8:54

We've seen social media companies like Facebook

8:57

and Pinterest, big outlets

9:00

be more responsible in terms of making sure that they're

9:02

not spreading misinformation around

9:05

COVID. These the you know,

9:07

these companies that we've seen it in

9:10

our and this isn't anything

9:12

new. We just recently just came off a

9:15

recent presidential election or recent election where

9:18

that was a major aspect,

9:20

right, just a bunch of misinformation that gets

9:23

shared around between one candidate

9:25

or the other, and it's unfortunately

9:27

kind of just see this spread into

9:30

um, you know, the the vaccine

9:33

is sort of fighting this pandemic. What

9:38

disparities have shaped the access of people

9:40

that, you know, in getting the vaccine.

9:43

I still think there's a certain amount of

9:45

just just fear, in distrust,

9:48

and there's been more within

9:51

Rhode Island has been talk about

9:54

you know, millennials and and gen Z young

9:56

people sort of feeling that

9:59

um that maybe they don't have to take

10:01

the vaccine, maybe sort of like COVID won't

10:03

have necessarily impact with them, or

10:06

they can sort of just you know, just wait on

10:08

that. It's sort of tough because it's

10:11

one of those things right now where

10:13

I think it's I'm working individually.

10:15

How do I share my story of like I

10:18

took the vaccine, I was

10:20

able to get my mom and she

10:22

was able to get the vaccine, And how

10:24

do I share that on an individual

10:27

basis? Right now? How do I go at

10:29

least within my network, at least within you

10:31

know, social media, whatever sort of outlets

10:34

I have, whatever sort of like networks I have, How

10:36

do I sort of share a positive story of you

10:38

know, a vaccines available. I took it. I didn't

10:41

turn into a lizard, you know, I didn't. I

10:43

didn't get a third eye or anything like that.

10:45

I think in Rhode Island, especially

10:48

in our you know, communities of color,

10:50

I think we're at a situation where we need to sort of share

10:52

positive experiences for those who can and

10:56

you know, have a little bit of patients. Tell

10:58

us about your experience with their family members

11:00

in the pandemic. What was it like communicating

11:03

with other members of your family or

11:05

your community. You say that you're

11:07

thinking about how do I reach them? How have

11:10

you decided to reach them? I

11:12

related the new like pandemic messaging,

11:14

especially we see on social media, to

11:17

what's sort of going on in politics. If

11:20

some if someone falsely believes in something that's negative

11:22

about the vaccine, I don't think it's coming at

11:24

them harshly, right, I don't I

11:26

think if someone decides like, hey, I'm not going to

11:28

take the vaccine, I don't think it's I don't think

11:30

I'm saying, like acting like they're

11:33

a bad individual that they are. They're

11:35

deciding not to take the vaccine. For

11:37

me, I think it's providing information,

11:40

providing correct information if you hear

11:43

something that is misinformation, you

11:45

know, to try to connect them to sort of resources.

11:48

Be positive with individuals.

11:50

I think if you sort of take a

11:53

actually, um,

11:55

a friend of mine, shared experience, shared experience,

11:58

Uh this, this person is still

12:01

thinking about taking the vaccine,

12:03

still hasn't you know, you know, decided.

12:06

But this person was in a group chat and

12:08

they felt sort of attacked and kind of left

12:10

the group chat and kind of buried

12:13

themselves into the opinion like, oh maybe I shouldn't

12:15

take the vaccine. I think what we've seen with our

12:18

there is some comparisons I think to sort of the political

12:21

argument where people sort of just argued with one

12:23

another and kind of like, Okay, you agree

12:25

with you think this, and I think this, we're

12:27

just gonna go off into our own corners where

12:30

this this shouldn't be the attitude, the shouldn't

12:33

be the energy that we take in when

12:35

we're when we're talking about everyone's

12:37

health. Another friend of mine who's

12:39

cautious about getting the vaccine

12:42

and say, hey, you know, I'm gonna travel again.

12:44

I know you love traveling. We want

12:46

to travel safely. We want to be able and

12:48

go out and experience nightlife and want to be able

12:51

to go out. And I was gonna ask you that, what

12:53

have your conversations been like? What

12:56

have they sounded like with people that you're trying

12:58

to convince walk us through those conversations.

13:00

What do you tell them to convince them to get the

13:02

vaccine? Yeah, I mean in a lot of

13:05

times, I don't come on. I say, I'm

13:07

not going to judge you if you don't take the

13:09

vaccine, right, I'm not going to judge

13:12

anyone, anyone of my friends. I'm not gonna hold

13:14

it against them. I'm going to share with

13:16

you that the vaccines are overwhelmingly

13:18

safe. And I want

13:20

to go back to normal. I know you want to go back to

13:23

normal, especially for

13:25

for young people. Um, you

13:27

we could still pass. You know, if you have had

13:30

you could still pass. This disease is someone who's

13:32

immune compromise or older

13:34

individuals who maybe haven't had

13:36

the vaccine and they could have adverse reaction.

13:39

And I kind of just I try to

13:41

just be a motivator, like let's

13:44

let's try to get past this pandemic.

13:48

I try to at least share with my friends that there

13:50

is light at the end of the

13:52

tunnel and I want

13:54

you to be healthy. So how

13:57

is your mom doing now after her vaccine?

14:00

My mom after her first and second shot

14:02

has been the same as she took visor.

14:04

She had a sore arm um,

14:07

but that was about it. I took

14:09

her out to to to lunch.

14:11

Both times we're able to. We talked about

14:13

life and that was one of the you know, especially at

14:15

the second time, it was one of the times where I felt really

14:17

comfortable that just you know, I can

14:20

really now think about hanging out my

14:22

mom in different ways of giving her a hug and you

14:24

know, not have that concern. Um.

14:27

She's in her sixties and it's you know,

14:29

when when you talk about you know,

14:31

individual has gotten this disease,

14:34

it's like, if she gets it this, she could have

14:36

a really bad reaction. So it

14:38

was a weight lifted from

14:41

my shoulders after the first shot. Like I

14:43

I teared up just a little bit. And I don't even know I had

14:45

that in me. My I didn't even

14:47

know I had like I had that emotion in me. I was like, oh

14:49

wow, Like I I wow, I'm getting emotional

14:51

right now, like watching my mom sort

14:53

of take this this first vaccine

14:55

shot, right. But I guess it was just

14:57

all of that built in, oh for

15:00

the past year or so, and just understanding

15:03

there's a weight that's going to be lifted, um,

15:06

over my shoulder, and yeah, she's

15:09

been great, She's been great. Travis,

15:11

what is the most important thing you want our listeners

15:13

to take away from this conversation? The

15:16

most important thing is if you

15:18

have taken the vaccine and you have

15:21

friends, our loved ones

15:23

that have not in our

15:26

hesitant are are

15:28

are they just don't want to take the

15:30

vaccine? To be patient with them.

15:33

These are individuals I'm sure you love, so

15:35

to show them love and say

15:37

that you care about their health, um,

15:40

and to talk about the

15:42

things you want to do with them when the

15:45

world is more open and when we

15:47

have more freedom to do

15:50

the things that whether it's traveling or

15:52

concerts or you know, going out

15:54

to your your favorite bar or

15:56

whatever sort of activities, um,

15:59

you enjoy doing way uh for the

16:01

people that are that people

16:03

that listen or maybe hesitant taking

16:05

it. Just if you have friends

16:08

or family have taken a vaccine, definitely get

16:10

their experience. But you know, consult with your

16:12

doctors and don't believe

16:14

everything you sort of see on social media

16:17

are in the news. Try

16:19

to find the correct information and try to

16:21

try to be as wild research as possible

16:23

and making your decision, and

16:26

try to think about, you know, a world where

16:28

we can sort of live without mask

16:31

and not have all this all this great

16:33

fear. Thank you, Travis. With

16:41

over half of adults already receiving at

16:43

least one COVID vaccine those in America,

16:46

we need to pull together and use non

16:48

judgmental tactics to convince

16:50

vaccine skeptics and increased vaccination

16:53

rates to reach her community. Open

16:56

honest discussions about vaccine facts

16:59

can help hesitant people decide to get

17:01

vaccinated. At the same time,

17:03

we need to address the health care disparities

17:05

that are preventing the Hispanic community from

17:08

easily accessing the vaccines they need.

17:11

Our next guest, Dr Eliseo

17:13

Petavli addressed both issues

17:15

disparity and hesitancy.

17:19

Dr Pettiestable is a director of the National

17:21

Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

17:25

The institute conducts research to improve

17:27

the health of minority groups across the country

17:30

and reduce health care disparities. This

17:33

work gives Dr Pettistavle a deep

17:35

understanding of the history and causest

17:38

of health care gaps in the Hispanic community.

17:41

I asked them why these disparities exist

17:44

and how we can help address them.

17:46

Then we talked about why research shows

17:48

a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy among

17:51

Hispanic adults and what listeners

17:53

at home can do to help convince themselves

17:56

or the vaccine hesitant people in their

17:58

lives. Here's my converse station

18:00

with Dr Eliso Petty Stable. Why

18:05

has there been a history of health care access

18:07

disparities within the Hispanic

18:10

community in general? Well,

18:12

Hispanics have been an

18:14

important demographic minority

18:17

group within the US that grew

18:19

exponentially really after until

18:23

probably now plateauing over the last few

18:25

years. UH. Much of it is immigration,

18:28

but keep in mind that sevent of

18:30

Hispanics now living in the US today

18:33

were born in this country. And

18:35

because of the type of employment at

18:38

level of education that occurs for

18:40

the majority of Hispanic groups coming

18:42

in and there's variability. Um

18:44

they are often employed in positions

18:47

that do not have health insurance

18:49

coverage as part of their benefits, so

18:51

they have the highest rate of uninsured

18:54

of any group in the United States

18:56

right now. In addition, many

18:59

came in with out speaking English, and

19:01

this limited English proficiency has been a

19:03

barrier. There are now many clinicians

19:06

who do speak Spanish,

19:08

but initially there were very few and

19:10

one had to depend on interpreters or family

19:13

members or friends to help engage

19:16

with a clinical visit. That

19:18

lack of healthcare access did

19:21

that contribute to the fact that Latinos

19:23

had such high incidences of

19:25

of COVID nineteen infections, hospitalizations,

19:28

and deaths in part.

19:31

Yes, absolutely, the

19:34

rate of infections is

19:36

greater at every age for

19:38

Latinos compared to whites. This

19:41

is not because lack of insurance, but it's because

19:43

of the living conditions and the structural

19:45

inequities. So again,

19:47

the type of work they had to go out.

19:50

They had to go work service jobs,

19:52

construction, transportation, and

19:55

therefore could not have the luxury

19:58

to basically telework I do

20:00

UH and stay home UH and do

20:03

almost everything UH from a

20:05

safer environment. UH. They put

20:07

themselves out for greater risk also

20:09

in healthcare and therefore

20:11

more likely to be infected. Now, if they got

20:13

infected, they came back home to

20:16

a bigger household than most of us. A

20:18

household with either two families or

20:20

three generations, and much more likely

20:22

that the Ahualo was infected or

20:25

the other adults in the household would

20:27

be infected, because there's just no room

20:30

in most of these households to self

20:32

isolate um and thus be separate

20:35

from the rest of the of the group. The

20:37

third factor is that most majority

20:40

of Latinos live in dense

20:42

urban environments, so they're not

20:44

living in uh single family

20:47

suburban homes or the yard. They're

20:49

living in buildings with ten floors

20:51

of apartments and therefore are much

20:53

more likely to be around people,

20:55

encountering people who are strangers and

20:57

therefore more likely to be exposed. Now

21:00

after that, the lack of access

21:02

to healthcare or the limited access

21:05

does lead to delays in seeking

21:07

care, and there's been data showing that

21:09

across the board for over the last year.

21:12

They present to clinical attention

21:14

in a more advanced clinical condition.

21:18

For with COVID if the more shortness

21:20

of breath, more pneumonia, and therefore are

21:22

more likely than to have to be hospitalized,

21:25

and of course that means it's a more severe

21:27

case and therefore higher likelihood

21:30

of dying, and that's been true

21:32

across the board, across all ages

21:35

for Latinos and other actually

21:37

other racial ethnic minority groups

21:39

as well. Now

21:42

that all adults can get the vaccine,

21:44

what are the challenges that stand in the way of

21:47

equitable vaccine access?

21:49

Well, initially, and I'll share

21:51

my own story. I'm over sixty five,

21:53

so I said, Well, once the District of Columbia

21:56

said you can get a vaccine, I you know, get on

21:58

the website to try to get an appointment. It took me

22:00

three times, three tries to get

22:02

an appointment. Uh, and I live

22:04

in a Quote Priorities zip code,

22:07

so one had to have the knowledge

22:09

of how to do that, have a computer, be

22:12

patient, you know how to navigate a little

22:14

bit on the website. And when I did get an

22:16

appointment, I wasn't sure. I didn't get a confirmation,

22:18

so I called the number they said to call,

22:20

and the first thing I heard was there are three calls

22:23

ahead of you. So you can imagine

22:25

that if you're working, you just couldn't do

22:27

that. That if you have to take care of three

22:29

kids, or you have other responsibilities

22:33

or older adult that you're that

22:35

you're taken care of, you couldn't do that. And for

22:37

older adults, many are not computer

22:39

savvy, many don't have computers. They're used

22:41

the phone for their digital access.

22:44

And the phone that they are they're on a data

22:46

plan, they're not unlimited. So all these

22:48

barriers were there that would

22:51

have cost them money to just get an appointment

22:53

to go get a vaccine. So with the supply

22:55

being short, uh, initially

22:57

the demand was overwhelming and the people

23:00

who got in to the door first

23:02

where those with more skills, more education,

23:05

um and more resources, and just

23:07

that was just the way it played out. Now

23:10

we can correct it because now we

23:12

have plenty supply to vaccinate

23:14

every single person in the United States

23:16

over sixteen who wants a vaccine

23:19

and who will accept the vaccine. Another

23:21

thing that seems to stand in the way is vaccine

23:23

hesitancy. Now, what is ani

23:26

H doing to address the issues of mistrust

23:28

and misinformation about COVID ncteen and

23:31

the vaccines. This vaccine hesitancy

23:33

has been on our priorities since

23:36

last summer. The group

23:38

that had the highest rates of hesitancy

23:41

have been the African American community

23:43

and partly related to historical

23:45

mistrust, but the Latinos

23:47

were in between, and that proportion

23:50

is probably not gonna go much below

23:54

of people who when you ask them, will you take

23:56

a vaccine for COVID, they'll say

23:58

probably not, or deaf only not. The

24:01

reasons for hesitancy are complicated.

24:04

We actually launched a program

24:06

to study it with research

24:08

projects, not to see why, but actually

24:10

to address it, to intervene. And

24:12

these are grants are about to be UH

24:15

funded now and because it's not just

24:17

gonna be COVID, but it's also going to be possibly

24:19

the flu vaccine, another respiratory

24:21

virus in the future, the hepatitis

24:24

vaccine. I mean, there are other vaccines

24:26

that also we should be getting be

24:28

more effective. So I think that those

24:30

reasons why people are hesitant

24:33

need to be a studied addressed and find

24:35

ways to intervene to to avoid

24:38

that UM. But there's also a

24:40

lot of misinformation and UH

24:42

AT n n H. We launched the

24:44

Community Engage Alliance Research

24:46

Alliance Against COVID nineteen last summer

24:49

with the National Heart Long VOWE Institute. Dr

24:51

Derry Gibbons and I co lead that we

24:54

have programs in eleven states right

24:56

now and are about the fund

24:58

ten additional sites. The main

25:00

goal we had was to address

25:03

misinformation to really

25:05

build trust in science and

25:08

trusted messengers. And the trusted

25:10

messengers that people rely

25:12

on the most are your local doctor,

25:15

your your local nurse. Of course

25:17

Dr Facci is always good to have, but we

25:20

really rely on local regional experts

25:23

to provide this kind of advice. And we

25:25

have seen that professional community

25:27

really step up to the plate UH in

25:29

contributing to this. And it goes all the

25:31

way from health related

25:34

professionals to community

25:36

leaders, to faith based leaders, UM

25:39

and and yes, and celebrities

25:41

and athletes can also help and pitch in on

25:43

this. So we we feel comfortable with

25:45

the progress we have made in this. How

25:47

should we approach the hesitant Hispanic

25:50

community to convince them to get vaccinated?

25:53

Well, I think that the experience

25:56

we have is to be clear, simple

25:58

language, act, base on

26:00

the science that we know, address

26:03

any misinformation, don't consider

26:06

any question to be you know, that's a dumb

26:08

question. Oh that's no we we I Do

26:10

you think that that someone's going to inject

26:13

a microchip into you? Well, you don't laugh

26:15

at off you say, no, that's not possible. We

26:17

don't. We don't do that. That's never been developed.

26:20

At What we do is it's injective protein

26:22

that has instructions for ourselves

26:25

than to manufacture the antibodies against

26:27

the COVID NINETEAM. I think

26:29

that we as scientists and and doctors

26:32

UM have the experience that we

26:34

can explain things in a way

26:37

that is clear and understandable

26:40

by everyone and not be using

26:43

jargon or scientific terminology that no

26:45

one's going to really understand, just to make it look

26:47

like we really know a lot. And that's

26:49

the way I dealt with patients UH

26:51

a lot of the time when I was practicing

26:53

medicine UM in my prior

26:56

job. And I think the same principles

26:58

apply in public health can munication on

27:01

this So address specific

27:03

concerns, whatever they may be, make

27:05

sure you reassure them on all of them. Just

27:08

go with the facts. Don't try to pretend

27:10

that oh no, it's okay, don't worry, it's never

27:12

gonna know. You tell them what side effects are,

27:15

what the processes, where

27:18

the material came from, how the

27:20

manufacturing happened. You know, people say,

27:22

well, how did you get to a vaccine so quickly? Well,

27:25

it was because there have been twenty

27:27

years of research that led to

27:29

the discovery of this platform.

27:31

This did not come out of the air. This did not happen

27:34

over three months. Um. It really

27:36

did to take a lot of effort

27:38

basic research to

27:40

develop this platform, and in many ways

27:43

it is a huge advancement in science

27:45

that we were able to mobilize

27:47

our scientific knowledge to get to this point

27:50

as we continue to try to control the pandemic.

27:55

Right, if some people

27:57

are not even believing doctors, what's

28:00

listeners at home? Keep in mind, if they're

28:02

trying to convince a hesitant family member,

28:05

how do they talk to them, How did they convince them?

28:08

Well, in the science and the practice

28:10

of persuading people to change behavior,

28:13

we know generally that badgerying

28:15

doesn't work. People

28:18

will You'll give them the facts, You give them the

28:20

information, and you say I'm here for

28:22

any questions. Uh. And

28:25

we have to give people space and

28:27

time. I learned that from

28:30

working with smokers, for example,

28:32

about you know, quitting smoking, and

28:34

and that for all the times I would

28:37

say, well, you gotta do it for this, you gotta do it for that, you

28:39

know, until they were ready,

28:41

they wouldn't do it. And with

28:43

enough time and patients, UH,

28:46

successfully saw many long time

28:48

smokers kind of reach a point where they were

28:51

they able to quit. That's not exactly

28:53

the same thing with the vaccine hesitancy.

28:55

But I do think that, um, we can't

28:58

really force people to do. This have to be

29:00

voluntary. They have to be willing, and

29:02

they have to be ready and and sometimes

29:04

they also prize us and they say, okay, I'm ready.

29:07

The other the other strategy that will work

29:09

is to create the opportunity that

29:11

they don't have to plan it. So you

29:14

can say, oh, you go to the doctor for something

29:16

else. Oh, by the way, we have the COVID vaccine.

29:18

Do you do you want it? And in that spur of the

29:20

moment, they may all that all

29:22

that all that they have heard from

29:25

about trying to get the vaccine make kick

29:27

in and they say, okay, well I'm here

29:29

anyway, so might as well. And so I

29:31

think that's another way of doing or

29:34

reaching out to people very proactively.

29:36

So not the person who's trying to convince you, but

29:38

a new person who says, we're giving

29:41

vaccines today. We're going

29:43

visiting people at their home or at the community

29:45

center. Uh, and we're offering

29:48

you you want to roll up your sleeve or you know. And

29:50

I think sometimes that structural approach

29:54

can be effective as well, what the buddy

29:56

system work. Let's go

29:58

together? Or why I don't you and

30:00

my tea go and get the vaccine together?

30:03

Or your neighbor absolutely

30:05

can work. And I think that that's a

30:08

great suggestion. Uh so maybe

30:11

two people are afraid, but then together they

30:14

can give each other more more karak

30:16

and and and really get to the to the

30:19

to the vaccine and say, okay, let's do it. You

30:21

know, maybe they can have someone

30:23

else who helps them. But I think that's

30:25

a great suggestion of how to how to do this

30:27

as well. So not force, not badger,

30:31

but inform, be patient, uh

30:33

and be supportive. Thank you, Dr Thank

30:36

you, mad Elie. It's

30:51

time to start a conversation with the people

30:53

in your life who have questions about the

30:55

vaccines and alleviate their concerns,

30:58

find the root of their head sitency, and

31:00

share the facts without judgment.

31:03

At the same time, the systems that distribute

31:06

vaccines will keep improving to make

31:08

it easier for you to book your appointment.

31:10

If you haven't been vaccinated yet, you

31:13

can lead by example, like Dr Pettiestablis

31:15

said, getting vaccinated against COVID

31:18

nineteen is essential, even

31:20

if you're young. It helps secure

31:22

your own safety and the safety

31:24

of everyone around you. To

31:35

get vaccinated, go to vaccines

31:37

dot gov for vacunas punto

31:39

hey over and click find COVID

31:42

vaccines or in Quinte

31:44

vaccuna conte covidin very The

31:46

site will help you determine where you can get

31:48

the vaccine and how to make an

31:51

appointment. You can get vaccinated

31:53

regardless of your immigration status

31:55

or if you have health insurance. You don't

31:58

have to worry about paying for your vaccine. Your

32:00

taxpayer dollars are funding the rollout,

32:03

so there's no individual cost to you.

32:06

If someone asks you to provide your insurance

32:08

information, that's only so your

32:10

vaccination provider can build

32:12

your insurance for the administrative cost,

32:15

but you will not be personally responsible

32:17

for any expenses. I'd

32:20

like to thank our guest Travis Escovat

32:22

and Dr Eliseo Ferristavli for

32:24

sharing their thoughts and their expertise

32:27

with us today. Tune

32:29

in next time for episode seven.

32:42

COVID nineteen Immunity in Our

32:44

Community was developed and paid for

32:46

by the U. S Department of Health and Human

32:48

Services, part of a public education

32:51

campaign to increase public confidence

32:53

in COVID nineteen vaccines. While

32:55

reinforcing basic prevention

32:57

measures. We can do This, Presented

33:01

by I Heart Radio. The episode

33:03

was executive produced by Ethan Fixel.

33:06

It was written, engineered, edited, and

33:08

mixed by Adie Allard, with original

33:10

theme music by Brad Kemp, with

33:13

research assistance by Alessandra

33:15

Teja. If you haven't already subscribed,

33:18

rated, or reviewed COVID nineteen Immunity

33:21

in Our Community, please do so on

33:23

the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast,

33:26

or wherever you get your podcast. I'm

33:28

Marie Lena Salinas and this is COVID

33:30

nineteen Immunity in our

33:32

Community. Thank you for listening. Grass

33:35

Yes