Horns blared and drums pounded a constant beat as fans of the Mexican national soccer team gathered recently at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver for a high-profile international tournament.
But the sounds were muted inside a mobile medical RV parked near the stadium, and the tone was professional. During halftime of Mexico鈥檚 game against the U.S., soccer fan Oscar Felipe Sanchez rolled up his sleeve to receive the one-dose covid-19 vaccine.
Sanchez is a house painter in Colorado Springs. After getting sick with covid a few months ago, he thought he should get the vaccine. But because of the illness, he was advised to wait a few weeks before getting the shot. Asked if he鈥檚 glad he got it, Sanchez answered through a translator: 鈥淵es! He鈥檚 more trusting to go out.鈥�
Bringing the mobile vaccine program to an international soccer match was the latest effort by the state of Colorado and its local partners to meet unvaccinated residents wherever they are, rather than ask them to find the vaccine themselves.
Long gone are the days in early spring when vaccine appointments were snatched up the instant they became available, and health care workers worried about making sure patients were eligible under state and federal criteria for age and health status.
Colorado, and most of the nation, has now moved into a new phase involving targeted efforts and individual interactions and using trusted community influencers to persuade the hesitant to get jabbed.
With about half of Colorado鈥檚 5.78 million people now fully immunized, the challenge cuts across all demographic groups. According to the state鈥檚 vaccination dashboard, men are slightly more hesitant than women and rural residents are more hesitant than urban dwellers. Younger Coloradans have been less likely than their elders to prioritize the shots.
But perhaps no group has been harder to get vaccinated than Coloradans who identify as Hispanic. Despite Hispanics making up more than 20% of the state population, only about 10% of the state鈥檚 doses have gone to Hispanic residents, according to the听.
The gap is not as wide nationally: Hispanics, or Latinos, make up 17.2% of the U.S. population, and 15.8% of people who have gotten at least one dose 鈥� and whose race/ethnicity is known 鈥� are Hispanic.
At first, the gap in Colorado seemed to be an issue of inadequate access to health care. Nearly 16% of Hispanic Coloradans are uninsured, according to a KFF听. That鈥檚 more than double the rate for white Coloradans. That disparity may play a role, even though the vaccine itself is free, with no insurance requirement.
Denver has hit the听听for resident vaccination, but some Latino neighborhoods are getting vaccinated at much lower rates, according to Dr. Lilia Cervantes, an associate professor in the department of medicine at Denver Health.
鈥淭here are some very high-risk neighborhoods where most of the community are first-generation or foreign-born individuals,鈥� said Cervantes. 鈥淎nd that is where we鈥檙e seeing the highest disparities.鈥�
According to听听from Denver鈥檚 health agencies, about 40% of Latinos older than 12 are vaccinated in Denver County 鈥� that鈥檚 far below the roughly 75% rate for whites.
Latinos make up 29% of the Denver population but represent nearly half of cases and hospitalizations.
If the state hopes to reach broad levels of protection from the virus, Cervantes said, 鈥淚 think that it is critical that we improve vaccine uptake in our most marginalized groups, including those who are undocumented and those who are Spanish-language dominant.鈥� Cervantes added she鈥檚 concerned the state will keep seeing a higher covid positivity rate in those marginalized groups, who make up much of the essential workforce. 鈥淭his past year, I think we have seen stark health inequities in the Latino community.鈥�
All this portends a more uneven pandemic, said Dr. Fernando Holguin, a pulmonologist and critical care doctor at the听
He worries cases, hospitalizations and deaths will keep flaring up in less vaccinated communities, especially predominantly Hispanic populations in parts of Colorado or other states where overall vaccination rates are poor. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e at risk, especially moving into the fall of seeing increasing waves of infections. I think it is really critical that people really become vaccinated,鈥� Holguin said. Even as parts of Colorado and parts of the U.S. 鈥� like the Northeast 鈥� are getting vaccinated at high rates, for the mostly unvaccinated 鈥渃ovid infections in certain communities still will be devastating for them,鈥� he said.
He鈥檚 especially concerned about migrant farmworkers, who often have poor access to the internet and may struggle to find good information about the vaccine and avoiding the virus. 鈥淪o overcoming those access, cultural, language barriers is important,鈥� he said.
When asked what the state has done to reach out to Latino Coloradans, a health department spokesperson pointed to over 1,500鈥� in 56 counties; the听, which partners with businesses and organizations to provide vaccine clinics at worksites; and a Spanish-language Facebook page and covid website. She said the state鈥檚 鈥淧ower the Comeback鈥� campaign is available in English and Spanish and aims to reach disproportionately affected populations with听,听videos and.
About a third of all adults in the U.S. are unvaccinated, a 鈥渟hrinking pool鈥� that skews younger and includes people more likely to identify as Republican or Republican-leaning, according to a听.
They also tend to be poorer, less educated and more likely to be uninsured. The KFF report found 19% of unvaccinated adults are Hispanic; of that group, 20% said they will 鈥渨ait and see鈥� about getting vaccinated, and 11% said they鈥檇 鈥渄efinitely not鈥� get it.
Both Cervantes and Holguin credit local, state and community groups with aggressively looking to boost vaccination rates among Latino Coloradans, while also encouraging them to keep recruiting trusted community voices from within, to help deliver the message.
鈥淵ou know, it鈥檚 not going to be Dr. [Anthony] Fauci saying something, that someone translates in Spanish, that you need to get vaccinated,鈥� Holguin said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be people in the community convincing others to get vaccinated.鈥�
At Empower Field, soccer fan Diego Montemayor of Denver echoed that sentiment, saying some fans who got shots themselves urged friends who came to the stadium to visit the RV and get one, too. 鈥淲hen they hear people that they trust sharing their experiences, that goes a long way,鈥� Montemayor said.
Community health advocate Karimme Quintana agreed. She had come to the game as well to spread the word about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. She works as a promotora de salud p煤blica, a public health outreach worker, focusing her efforts on Denver鈥檚 majority-Latino Westwood neighborhood. Quintana said that population may trust someone close to them more than even a doctor.
鈥淭hey need to be more educated about the covid because they have a lot of questions,鈥� said Quintana, whose button read 鈥溌縏iene preguntas sobre covid? Preg煤nteme.鈥� (鈥淒o you have questions about covid? Ask me.鈥�)
鈥淟atino people, they listen [to] the neighbor, they listen [to] my friend,鈥� Quintana said.
University of Colorado Health nurse Danica Farrington said the vaccine effort at the soccer tournament was heavily promoted beforehand on billboards and big screens inside the stadium during the game.
鈥淭hey just plastered it everywhere and said, go get your shot,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 pretty influential.鈥�
The carnival atmosphere at the stadium helped him make the pitch, said Jesus Romero Serrano, a community ambassador with Denver鈥檚 mayor鈥檚 office: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a Mexico game versus Honduras! So lots of Latinos are here. This is the perfect place to be, to reach the Latin community. Absolutely!鈥�
To capitalize on the playful spirit of the day, Romero Serrano wore a Mexico soccer jersey and a red-and-green luchador wrestling mask. In his work with the city government, he鈥檚 what you could call a community influencer. He filtered through the tailgate crowd in the parking lot, handing out cards about where to get a vaccine.
As he circulated, he admitted it鈥檚 sometimes hard for some Latino Coloradans to overcome what they see as years of historical mistreatment or neglect from medical providers. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 trust the health care system,鈥� he said.
Still, Romero Serrano kept wading into the crowd, shaking hands and shouting over the constant din of the drum bands, asking people whether they had gotten a vaccine.
The most common answer he heard was 鈥渆verybody has it鈥� 鈥� but he was skeptical about that, thinking people were just being nice.
A few miles from the stadium is the听听in the predominantly Hispanic Globeville neighborhood. That鈥檚 home base for听, a family physician and the chief health officer at the clinic. She tries to address her patients鈥� fears and concerns about the new vaccines, but many have told her they still want to wait and see that people don鈥檛 have serious side effects.
Valenza鈥檚 clinic recently held more vaccine events, at more convenient times that didn鈥檛 interfere with work, like Friday evenings, and offered free grocery cards for the vaccinated. She said she likes the idea of pairing vaccines with fun.
鈥淭he Latino culture 鈥� food, culture and community 鈥� is such a central part of the Latino community,鈥� Valenza said. 鈥淢aking the events maybe a little bit more than just a vaccine might encourage some community members to come out.鈥�
This story is part of a partnership that includes听,听听and KHN.
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