‘We’ve lost a lot of abuelitos’: COVID conspiracy theories loom over Houston’s hardest-hit group

Once a week, volunteers hand out fliers in Spanish to those in cars lined up at a food distribution site in New Caney. Harris County officials post similar announcements and reminders in Spanish almost every day on social media.

The efforts offer a glimpse into operations underway across the Houston region and country to distribute accurate information about COVID-19 to Latinos who may not speak English fluently. Community organizers and advocates say the information pushes are important as the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine slowly gains momentum.

Latinos, whom community leaders say are more likely to work in jobs considered essential, have suffered among the most loss of life due to the coronavirus pandemic and can’t be left behind in the vaccine rollout, organizers and advocates say. During the region’s peak last summer, an analysis conducted by UTHealth School of Public Health showed that COVID-19 cases among Latinos in Harris County had been surging for months.

“The Latino community has been the hardest hit in Houston,” said Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, an organization that advocates for equality and empowerment of Hispanics. “We need to vaccinate the Latino population.”

But not everyone in the Latino population may want to be vaccinated. Some Latinos have expressed skepticism about the vaccine, two authors wrote in a Brookings Institution analysis published Monday. They cite concerns ranging from fear of long-term effects to fear of inoculation being too expensive.

While there is nuance about such reservations among subgroups of Latinos, the authors encouraged federal health officials to commission a more in-depth study, adjust data to ensure Latinos are not treated as a monolithic group and acknowledge a saturation of misinformation that must be countered with facts in both English and Spanish.

Nearly two weeks ago, Garcia met via Zoom with the president- and vice president-elect, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and with Xavier Becerra, Biden’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary. All assured him they plan a big push to get Latinos vaccinated, especially essential workers, he said.

One challenge, however, is the Web is full of misinformation that can easily spread among families and friends.

One Web video shows a man, in between sniffles, saying he woke up with sadness in the United Kingdom where he alleges the vaccine is being used to kill people. It’s not a joke, he says, looking at the camera. The vaccine will try to control you for life.

The video, in Spanish, has collected millions of views, Garcia said.

“Just a guy talking conspiracy theories,” he said. “There is a lot of misinformation on the internet regarding the vaccine.”

(No evidence has surfaced of government officials using the vaccine to control people in the United States or elsewhere).

Misinformation raises concerns

Dr. Omar Matuk-Villazon, a pediatrician and professor at the University of Houston’s College of Medicine, has seen such bogus claims reach people he knows.

On a recent morning, Matuk-Villazon’s 24-year-old cousin in San Antonio — scheduled to get his first dose of a Moderna vaccine later in the day because he’s considered high-risk — called him, with concern in his voice, that he didn’t want the shot anymore. The cousin had read a screenshot of a Facebook post being circulated on WhatsApp claiming the vaccine contains steroids that he did not want in his body.

Matuk-Villazon spent half an hour convincing his cousin to go the appointment. (In the end, he did).

In another instance, a woman he knows expressed reservations after watching a video that claimed the vaccine would leave a chip inside those who receive it.

“I said, ‘No ma’am, this is not going to be a chip,’” the doctor recounted. “And then I had to convince her of the opposite.”

But such information doesn’t sway all Latinos, Matuk-Villazon said. He said some may have suffer from a lack of access to reliable and accurate information or from an inequitable vaccine distribution system.

“I think a key component here is we have to actually reach out to the Hispanic community,” he said.

He’s observed some hesitancy among some Latinos but he said it was unclear whether this was due to mistrust or a lack of access to information and the vaccine itself. He’s fielded many logistical questions — What are the side effects? How can I get it? — from his patients’ parents and others who’ve consulted him.

“I don’t know if the hesitancy is because we just are not giving the right information or we are not reaching out to them,” he said.

Among those who are trying to reach out is Maria Banos Jordan, who founded Texas Familias Council, a volunteer community organization in Montgomery County.

Every Monday evening, Jordan hands out fliers with information about COVID-19 and the vaccine to people who visit the New Caney food distribution site. Online, Jordan shares posts on the group’s Facebook page containing updates on the local and state response to the pandemic and on the vaccine rollout.

“Like any other crisis, the communication barrier is the primary obstacle,” she said. “This goes for any immigrant population. There really has to be a concerted effort.”

‘COVID does not ask for papers’

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Montgomery County officials were slow in their response, she said. More recently, she’s heard from people who want the vaccine, regardless of any reservations about it they may have, but don’t know how to get it.

The county appears to be one of the few in the Houston region that does not post its social media updates in Spanish. A spokeswoman for its hospital district did not respond to an email asking why.

“That has been an ongoing concern of mine for years,” Jordan said of the lack of immediate information available in Spanish, or any other foreign languages for that matter. “There’s nothing.”

Meanwhile, in Harris County, officials consistently offer information in other languages and are planning to unveil a media campaign next week in Spanish and Vietnamese that will answer frequently asked questions about the vaccine.

“Regardless of what your native language is, the truth is we are all interconnected as a community, particularly when it comes to this pandemic,” County Judge Lina Hidalgo a native of Colombia, said in a statement. “We simply cannot let vulnerable communities fall through the cracks when it comes to making sure they have access to vaccines.”

A question that has induced reservations in some Latinos is whether a person’s immigration status will affect their ability to get vaccinated, said Garcia, of LULAC. During the administering of the initial batch of vaccines, a provider in Harris County had listed a question about citizenship status.

Garcia said the group asked the provider to remove the question. He has not heard of any more issues since.

At least in the region.

The governor of Nebraska provoked stern statements from top LULAC officials when he proclaimed the state would prioritize vaccinating legal residents. It appeared the governor changed his mind afterwards, Garcia said.

“We are trying to get the word out to everybody: You can get the vaccine regardless of your immigration status,” Garcia said. “COVID does not ask for papers.”

Aside from information, Garcia said the low supply of vaccine concerns him. He wants to ensure older Latinos in the region, many of whom served in the military and helped build Houston into the city it is today, can stay informed and get vaccinated.

“We’ve lost a lot of abuelitos and abuelitas,” he said. referring to grandparents. “They are the ones that need the help the most right now.”

alejandro.serrano@chron.com

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