Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Helping minority communities in Las Vegas overcome vaccine skepticism

Moderna

John Locher / AP

In this April 26, 2021, photo, a nursing student administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center at UNLV.

Early in the COVID-19 vaccination drive, socioeconomic barriers — access to health care providers, online-only scheduling, and skepticism — hampered the efforts of Las Vegas health officials to get more minorities vaccinated.

The effort was exacerbated by misinformation often spread online: Do vaccines change a person’s DNA? Is there a microchip in the dose? Does it impact fertility? Does the vaccine make someone magnetic?

The answer to every conspiracy theory raised has been a resounding no, said Christina Madison, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Roseman University of Health Sciences and CEO of The Public Health Pharmacist.

Madison was one of four Nevada medical professionals who participated Wednesday in “Conversations that Matter: The Pandemic Stops with Me,” a webinar hosted by Caesars Entertainment, the Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition and UNLV’s School of Public Health.

Canvassing campaigns that reach the unvaccinated “one on one” help boost inoculation by making them feel comfortable about lingering doubts. That's particularly pertinent as the more transmissible delta variant continues to spread through those populations, overwhelmingly hospitalizing and killing those who haven’t gotten the jab, the panel said.

As of Wednesday, 61% of Nevadans over age 12 have received at least one vaccine, while 51% are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s COVID dashboard. The more the virus spreads, the easier it’ll be for it to mutate into a more contagious variant that could possibly break through current vaccine protection, the panel reiterated.

Nevada has opened a hotline and dispatched medical professionals to vaccination sites to answer questions and ease any worries a skeptic might have. But it’s been challenging to keep up with the amount of misinformation in the communities of color, including from sources with ulterior or monetary motives, said Erika Marquez, assistant professor at UNLV’s School of Health and vice chair of Nevada Minority Health & Equity Coalition.

Still, more outreach is required in minority neighborhoods, said Marquez, noting that even when vaccine sites are placed there, they’re not attracting as many people from the targeted ZIP codes.

Madison said she’s heard from some Nevadans who can’t afford child care or time off work if they experience the minor, common side effects from the vaccine. Employers could get in front of the issue by taking advantage of the tax cuts from the federal government to provide those Nevadans time off work, she said.

Much like many aspects of the pandemic, strategies in canvassing efforts have changed and continue to do so, Marquez said.

Skepticism could hike with the recommendation of booster shots to increase protection as the efficiency of the vaccines wanes over time, or with more transmissible variants, such as delta.

The Pfizer and Moderna boosters will be available next month, and an announcement on boosters for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine was expected soon. People who got the two-dose regimen should wait eight months to get a booster shot, while the timeframe for those who received the Johnson & Johnson jab was tentatively going to be six months, said Francisco Sy, professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at UNLV’s School of Public Health, and Madison.

Theoretically, the Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine this week — the certification of the Moderna jab is expected soon — would break through some of the hesitancy.

But the population also should know that the emergency use in which they’re operating under was a culmination of decades of research and thorough testing, stressed Brian Labus, epidemiologist and assistant professor at UNLV’s School of Public Health, and member of Nevada’s COVID-19 Task Force.

Labus said the notion that the vaccines are unsafe and untested “could not be more wrong,” noting that the components of the jabs have been available and used for years.

It’s like saying a fire department responded too quickly to a blaze: the firetrucks are already built and firefighters already are hired, he added.

Vaccine approval for children under 12 is expected early in 2022, Labus said.

The eradication of COVID-19 isn’t a war between the vaccinated and those who aren’t inoculated, Labus said. “We honestly want everyone to get protected."

Sy said there is “no single magic bullet” to fight COVID-19, noting that vaccines, masking and social distancing help.

“We can stop it if we all work together as a group,” Sy said.

More information is available at mmhec.org/onecommunity; nvhealthresponse.nv.gov; immunizenevada.org/nv-covid-fighter, and 1-800-401-0946.