Here’s what they are doing to vaccinate the hard-to-reach
Despite rainy weather, a vaccine event at the Mexican Heritage Plaza drew hundreds of people on Jan. 28
After months and months of suffering through the coronavirus ravaging their community, residents of hard-hit East San Jose are seeing a glimmer of hope: the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine.
While people across the Bay Area spend hours online and on hold trying to snag coveted appointments to get inoculated, a collection of nonprofits has joined with Santa Clara County and Gardner Health Services to make sure those who have been hammered the hardest by the deadly disease don’t fall through the cracks. They’re trying to reach people without health insurance, those who speak limited English, and the elderly — people such as Cuc Ngo, who at 73 struggles to use the internet.
“I’m very, very happy,” Ngo said while waiting in line, her eyes gleaming above her mask as she huddled in a heavy coat and hat. “We’re scared about COVID-19.”
Ngo was among hundreds who queued up on Jan. 28 to get vaccinations at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, the site of one of a number of clinics across the Bay Area catering to hard-toreach communities. Gardner and its partners are able to vaccinate about 500 people each clinic day — Tuesdays and Thursdays — and eventually want to build to 1,000, including people returning for their second dose.
By late afternoon on Jan. 28, demand was tracking pretty closely with supply, and nearly all 500 doses had been claimed. But organizers expect demand to rise in the coming weeks as more people hear about the opportunity to get vaccinated.
Infection rates tell the story of just how disproportionately places like East San Jose have been hit by the virus. In the 95116 ZIP code, where the Mexican Heritage Plaza is located, the case rate is 10,503 cases per 100,000 people, according to data from
the county. Near San Jose’s Rose Garden, an affluent neighborhood west of downtown, the case rate is roughly half that.
“We’re like the safety net of the community,” said Olegario Avalos, interim director of nursing at Gardner, which serves lowincome families who don’t always have access to traditional health care providers.
So instead of asking people to go online and make an appointment the way so many health systems do, the nonprofit groups have banded together to set up this vaccination site and tapped into their existing community ties to reach out to those who now qualify for the vaccine — health care workers and those 65 and older — to let them know all they need to do is show up. Eligibility will likely expand in the future as vaccine production and distribution ramps up. So far, roughly 3 million Californians have gotten the vaccine,
according to state data.
“These are people we’ve been working with for years,” said Pai Venegas, program director with Amigos de Guadalupe, an organization that is part of the Si Se Puede Collective, a group of nonprofits in East San Jose that works with some of the most vulnerable residents, including the homeless.
And show up they have. As rain poured down Jan. 28, hundreds of seniors from the surrounding neighborhoods, many of them Spanish or Vietnamese speakers, waited in line to get a wristband with a vaccine appointment time and then returned, finally, to get the shot. The deluge did little to dampen their spirits.
Many East San Jose residents work in stores and restaurants, not from the comfort and safety of home. And many live together with multiple generations, making isolating or quarantining after exposure to the virus impossible.
Elizabeth Robledo’s elderly parents live with family members who are essential workers exposed to lots of people every day. So she was thrilled to sign her mother, Lucinda, 90, and father, Sabas, 79, up for the shot. “We can rest a little more comfortably,” she said.
The pair have health insurance, she said, but had been “given the run around.”
David Garcia heard about the clinic on TV and barely made the cutoff at age 65.
“I think it’ll be a relief,” he said, waiting for his turn to be vaccinated. “It’s all we’ve got right now.”
That’s exactly what people like Jessica Paz-cedillos, executive director of the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza, want to hear.
“We know our community, and this is how we show up and serve them,” she said.
When the virus hit and forced the school to pause its arts programs and cancelled the community events that typically take place at the plaza, Paz-cedillos and her team pivoted. Soon, the plaza became a food distribution site for hungry families, and a testing site. Now, it’s a vaccine site. They’re tapping into their arts side to create public service announcements featuring people in the community who have gotten the vaccine to encourage others to get it and dispel fears and myths. And they’re targeting multi-lingual social media posts to the ZIP codes where the virus has done the most damage.
“We’ve got to vaccinate people,” said Reymundo Espinoza, CEO of Gardner, adding that they’ll figure out the fundraising and logistics as they go. “We’ve just got to do it.”
As people began returning at noon for their shots, the atmosphere at the plaza felt celebratory, even with the storm clouds and blustery winds. There were some jitters, which nonprofit workers and Gardner staffers worked to calm, but mostly excitement.
“It’s been a rough time,” said Tony Vicari, 80, as he waited with his wife, Nickie, to get their vaccinations. The couple have lost a couple of close friends to COVID-19 and were anxious to get inoculated. “I just want to get the shot and get this virus over with.”
A few moments later, the pair, who both have birthdays in January, got their wish — a belated birthday present of sorts.
As the couple pulled up their shirtsleeves, health care workers helped them get settled and then administered the shots. Neither flinched.
“It makes you feel safer,” Nickie said.
“It’s great,” echoed Tony, as the pair were guided to chairs under a massive tent in the plaza courtyard, where they were observed for a short time before heading home.
For more information on the vaccine effort, call Gardner Health at 408-457-7100