Local health officials convincing people to get vaccinated

Rochester, New York – According to researchers, having one-on-one conversations with people who are vaccine-hesitant is effective in convincing them to get the vaccine.

Larry Pearsall Sr. is visiting the Puerto Rican Festival regularly every year. After a short conversation with one of the county employees working the pop-up vaccine clinic, he decided to get the shot.

“I’ve been debating it since we’re supposed to get it but I’ve been putting it off because you hear all these theories about people dying. Then I came here with my friend and I decided to get it. Why not? I’m here,” he said.

71.8% of those eligible in Monroe County have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, according to the Finger Lakes COVID-19 Vaccine Hub. But researchers say the decision to get vaccinated doesn’t come as easy to everyone.

According to Common Ground Health, the zip codes with the most members of the Latino community are 14613, 14621, and 14605. The vaccine hub reports those zip codes to have lower vaccination rates than the county’s average. The vaccination rate for 14613 is 48.1%, the rate for 14621 is 53.6% and the rate for 14605 is 52.9%.

“There’s a lot of medical mistrust and there’s a history of racial discrimination. They’re thinking the vaccine was made too quickly,” said Daisy Ruiz-Marin, Director of Stability Education and Employment Services at IBERO American Action League.

According to Ruiz-Marin, they are finding success in bilingual outreach workers going door-to-door answering questions families have about the vaccine.

“We’re sending outreach workers into the community that looks like them. I think that’s huge, they’re able to go ahead and see themselves in them and see that their race and ethnicity are represented.”

On Saturday, the CDC reported 134 hospitalizations in the Finger Lakes Region. On Friday, there were 118 hospitalizations. Hospital personnel have reported a majority of these patients are unvaccinated.

Reaching herd immunity is not as realistic as it used to be, according to Jennifer Gutowski, Associate Director for Infection Prevention with Rochester Regional Health.

“From a healthcare perspective, many people are exhausted at this point. We’re still seeing outbreaks persist knowing that we do have a lot of tools that can really alleviate much of what we’re seeing,” she said.