- February 22, 2021
- Posted by: medium
- Category: International
Most countries that have the COVID-19 vaccine only administer to the elderly and essential workers.
A small United States city with a large Hispanic population already offers doses for all 18 years.
Most countries that have the COVID-19 vaccine only administer to the elderly and essential workers, but in this city the coverage is already broader.
Central Falls, a small city of Rhode Island with 20,000 inhabitants where 66% are Latin, many of them undocumented immigrants, is one of the places with the highest population density in the United States and also one of the most affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Rhode Island state government recommends that risk groups be vaccinated only as essential workers and those over 75.
But Central Falls is doing things in its own way, and enabled all adults for vaccination.
"Every person who lives or works here is a priority," said Mayor María Rivera during a recent mass vaccination day.
The virus expanded as a gunpowder for the united community of Central Falls, where it is usual for many families to share a single home.
Central Falls has the highest rate of positive cases to virus and hospitalizations in the state of Rhode Island. Since January, more than 3,500 cases have been registered, with 21 deaths and 190 hospitalizations.
The economic impact of pandemic is added to health cost.
"At the beginning of the Covid (...) there were so many residents losing their jobs, and they had no money and could not request compensation" because they have no papers, Rivera recalled.
When the vaccine was available in December, the city offered injections to those over 75, then to those over 65, then to those over 50 and finally lowered the threshold at 18 years a few weeks ago.
"It was the right thing"
"If we do not solve the problem where the problem is, we will continue spreading this disease," Rivera said.
The mayor's team has toured Puerta by Puerta homes to inform the population in Spanish and other languages as Portuguese of Cabo Verde about the possibility of vaccinating. 13% of the city's population is black and many are originally from this archipelago located off the northwest coast of Africa.
"This was the first vaccination for the general public, probably the first in the country," said Eugenio Fernández Jr., founder of Asthenis, a pharmacy that works with poor communities.
When the nurse Suzanne Wallace learned of the problems of Central Falls, he knew that she should appear as a volunteer to vaccinate the population.
"I felt that doing it was right," he said.
One of the first residents to be vaccinated at the Falls Central High School was Angélica Romero, 30 years old.
"I was very afraid to come, I will be sincere with you," said Romero, whose father spent more than three months in the hospital after contracting the Coronavirus.
It was her mother who pointed to her to be vaccinated. "We are eager to have an environment as safe as we can for my father," Romero explained.