Category: Media

Spanish Language Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines Informs Latinx Community in WA

Medical experts, including from the UW, provided critical information to the Spanish-speaking population in our state to address frequently asked questions, concerns, fears and myths regarding the vaccinations against the raging COVID-19 disease.  The Latino Center for Health (LCH) and the Washington State Department of Health sponsored this webinar held on December 16, 2020.

Dr. Leo Morales, co-director of LCH and Assistant Dean in the UW School of Medicine; Dr. Santiago Neme, Medical Director of UWMC – NW Campus and infectious disease specialist; Dr. Julián Pérez, a physician from Sea Mar Community Health Centers; and Dr. Matías Valenzuela, Equity Director of Public Health Seattle & King County served as panelists.  Pablo Gaviria, a reporter from Univision Seattle, moderated this discussion.  This well-attended webinar serves as an important and necessary resource to inform our Latinx communities throughout the state as vaccinations are made available and to hopefully promote health and health equity.  In Washington, Latinos are 4.2 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites, and they account for 35% of COVID-19 cases in our state while constituting only 13% of the state’s population. 

“As a city and state, we need to ensure the equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, which means prioritizing communities that have been disproportionately impacted by SARS-CoV-2 infections and associated deaths including Latino and Spanish-speaking communities,” says Dr. Leo Morales. “This webinar is a first step in that direction.”

Here is a link to the video recording of the webinar from KOMO’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KOMONews/videos/158088332724444

Webinar: The Burden of COVID-19 on Latinx Communities in WA State

On September 23rd, 2020, the Latino Center for Health (LCH) hosted a webinar to raise awareness of the largely hidden disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on Latinx communities across Washington State and to amplify community- and state-led response efforts happening in our rural and urban communities.

“The fact that 42% all COVID cases in WA are among Latinos, who are only 13% of the population, is shocking and demands more attention and action,” says Dr. Leo Morales, professor and assistant dean for Health Equity Research in the UW School of Medicine and co-director of the Latino Center for Health. “We hope this webinar will spur decision-makers at the highest levels to respond with targeted policies and resources.”

See Dr. Leo Morales’ slides on inequities of COVID-19 in WA State here:Download

In preparation for this webinar, LCH convened representatives from different community organizations working with Latinxs to learn about their experiences during the pandemic. We invited a few of these representatives to share their perspectives at a panel discussion during the webinar.

At this panel discussion, we got to hear from different community leaders about the diverse needs of Latinx communities in the state of Washington.

“Since early March of this year, community leaders across the state have come together to identify and help mitigate impacts they knew were going to negatively affect our community, a few examples being emergency financial aid for undocumented individuals, worker safety rules for our farmworkers and other essential workers, and access to culturally and linguistically relevant information. We are lucky to live in a state with accessible and attentive leaders that have done their best to mitigate impacts but we have a long way to erasing inequities in our system, magnified by the pandemic, which have caused so much pain and hardship for our community,” says María Sigüenza, Executive Director of the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs.