One of Rhode Island’s communities hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic may be the least likely to get the new COVID-19 vaccine. To understand why, The Public’s Radio Health Reporter Lynn Arditi talks with long-time public health advocate and Latino radio host Dr. Pablo Rodriguez.
(This transcript has been edited.)
LYNN ARDITI: During the last round of COVID vaccines, only 11% of Rhode Island’s Hispanic/Latino residents got the shots. Do you expect this round will be any different?
DR. PABLO RODRIGUEZ: I think it has the potential of actually being worse. Because at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lot of fear, fear of the unknown or who would be most affected who would die. And this has been replaced by distrust [and] cynicism, regarding the vaccine, which has become a political bludgeon for some people. Most importantly, is the fact that the lack of trusted information is a real problem in this community. And this has been replaced by misinformation by conspiracy, especially for Latinos, and Latino immigrants, who have a natural distrust of government. And when all you see in social media is false, and conspiratorial information that justifies your ignorance and distrust.
ARDITI: You launched Rhode Island’s first Spanish-language health website. It’s called Nuestra Salud, or “Our Health.” Why did you feel an independent Spanish-language website was needed?
RODRIGUEZ: The most important thing about the website and the need for it is the incredible low health literacy of the Latino community. It’s the least informed in terms of health of all ethnic groups. Seventy-four percent of Latinos have low health literacy and 41% have below basic health literacy. That means that they cannot even understand a prescription or an instruction that is not really given in either in their native language or, or with a great explanation. And therefore, it is a problem for people to just even navigate the system. That is coupled with the fact that misinformation in Spanish and social media is not being banned. Seventy-percent – this is a study that was done last year, during the pandemic – 70% of material that already has been banned by Facebook or labeled false or conspiratorial, it still appears in Spanish. But now, adding the tools that I put in the in the website – having a medical encyclopedia, you know, thousands and thousands of pages of information; a list of providers that speak Spanish, or that are that have Spanish capabilities in their offices and welcome Latinos; a directory of clinical studies that help people participate in clinical studies, which is a really, really big problem. We need more tools like what I developed in order for people to be informed, to know where to go to get the right information, and to help disseminate it among [their] friends and among [their] family.
ARDITI: So what’s the response been to the website both inside and outside the Latino community?
RODRIGUEZ: It’s been incredible. It’s been really, really great. The support from health insurers has been tremendous. Neighborhood Health Plan has been a supporter of mine for many, many years. But you can add that CCA [Commonwealth Care Alliance] and Blue Cross they’ve been very supportive. The Rhode Island Department of Health, the Rhode Island Health Center Association, Rhode Island College, they’ve been terrific – not just financially, but also amplifying the message, just sharing the message. Unfortunately, the large networks of providers like Lifespan and Care New England have yet to come to the table in support, even though they are the ones that benefit immensely from what I’m doing.
[Lifespan spokeswoman Kathleen Hart said in an email, “Lifespan actively partners with community organizations across the state to improve health equity and outcomes for all Rhode Islanders, and through our community health institute we offer numerous free education and wellness programs – vaccinations, cancer screening, diabetes prevention classes, skin checks, mental health first aid.’’ The state’s largest health network also launched a new monthly video program, Hart said, called Lifespan Community Connection. Future episodes will include some “focused on Latinx health matters and conducted in Spanish,” she said. Care New England declined to respond to Rodriguez’s comments.]
ARDITI: By almost every measure, the COVID pandemic hit Latino and other communities of color disproportionately harder than the rest of the population. If another public health emergency were to hit today, are we in any better position than we are in 2020 to prevent the same disproportionate loss of lives and health in our Latino community?
RODRIGUEZ: Well, let me give you the good news first, and that is that we are in much better shape in terms of the delivery system for vaccines, specifically, and for treatment of patients. We learned a lot during the pandemic and developed a number of outreach and support partnerships with the government and with providers that we did not exist previously. However, like I mentioned before, the level of distrust and misinformation is much greater, and it will take a real spike in deaths and hospitalizations for people to take it seriously.
Nuestrasalud.com, a social venture company with sponsors, has pledged to donate 50% of its profits to Clínica Esperanza, which has been serving Spanish-speaking patients living in Rhode Island since 2010. Rodriguez is a board member.
Health reporter Lynn Arditi can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on X/Twitter at @LynnArditi
