Lori Townsend: Two years into the COVID 19 pandemic, the massive amount of misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine continues to hinder vaccination rates, despite the best efforts of doctors to reassure their patients that the shot is safe.

Unknown: I've been doing this since 1982.

I've never seen a long term side effect from a vaccine.

Lori Townsend: We're discussing local efforts to build trust in vetted medical information right now on a special one, our Alaska Insight.

Good evening.

Over the last two plus years that we've been in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've brought you numerous Alaska Insight programs and steady reporting from our newsroom and our partners across the state and nation in order to help Alaskans feel connected to good information and eachother during a time of a lot of anxiety and confusion.

We've featured Alaska's chief medical officer Dr. Anne Zink, the state's epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin, and many other medical professionals in our efforts to provide clear factual information about the pandemics progression, the updated guidelines on how to keep safe and avoid spreading the disease.

And as vaccines became available, we work to inform you about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and where you could get it for free.

But as we know, despite ongoing educational efforts, the proliferation of misinformation online and in other settings has contributed to low vaccination rates and Alaska currently around 60%.

We know that more people being vaccinated lowers the spread of the disease, protects people from serious illness and death and protects vulnerable Alaskans who may not be able to be vaccinated.

So what does it take to help convince more people to get the vaccine?

We're here for a special hour discussion tonight, with individuals dedicated to spreading the word about vaccination among some of the most at-risk Alaskans.

It's part of Alaska Public Media's Talk to Your Neighbor series sharing stories and resources from our community.

We'll also hear from average Alaskans about why they did or did not get vaccinated and learn about the latest information regarding vaccines for kids.

Before we meet tonight's guests, let's hear a few comments from some Anchorage residents.

Reporters, Jeff Chen and Adelyn Baxter stopped by Russian Jack Plaza in East Anchorage to get a sample of opinions, here are a few of them.

Unknown: Were over this.

It's like, we need to move on and treat it like any other -- the flu, same kind of thing.

It's going to be there.

It's probably always going to be there.

So we need to just figure out how to deal with it.

But go back to normal life Myself, like me, I'm a cab driver, but I don't have a choice.

I have to be what I try my best.

I got sanitizer inside.

I requested everybody to wear a mask.

If they said no.

I'm saying okay, okay.

You have the choice, but I always wear mine.

Getting boosted, I don't know.

I'm fully vaxxed and COVID-recovered at this point.

And so I feel pretty good about my immunity to it.

But who knows, with all of the changing variants.

Especially coming from a community of color, I think there are plenty of reasons why people might feel like the state does not have their best interests.

And so I can see where that fear comes from.

I think what's hard is when you are being presented with a lot of evidence that it is safe to get a vaccine and that people are like continually, whether it's like from doctors or science or even just from like personal people being like, 'Hey, I got it and I'm okay.'

I think that's where it's like frustrating to see that people are still choosing not to get it.

I'm a rule follower.

So I did what I thought I needed to do to keep others healthy.

I mean, my mom actually died from COVID.

She had a lot of comorbidities though so understandably she, she did, but I kind of don't wear the mask when I don't have to.

There is a lot of fatigue, even from everyone who's been like following all the protocols the whole time because I think after everyone got vaccinated and and like a lot of people got the booster as well.

There is this feeling of like, 'okay, like maybe we can sort of go back to sort of like normal social interactions.'

At the beginning, we just didn't know what, what we were dealing with.

And so I think maybe there was more of a, like walking on eggshells or like I'm going to be as careful as I can be, because who knows how bad this is?

And I think now that it's become a little bit more known and familiar, yeah, I don't feel that same level of caution.

Lori Townsend: Joining me tonight to discuss their outreach efforts in Alaska and especially in Anchorage is Pedro Luis Graterol.

Pedro is the project manager for COVIDatos, a Spanish language outreach campaign.

Sondra LeClair is the health projects coordinator at UAA's Center for Human Development.

And Felicia Fleming is the patient and community relations director for Mountain View Health Services in Anchorage.

Welcome, all of you.

Thanks so much for being with us this evening.

Pedro, I want to start by getting reaction from all of you to the Alaskans we just heard from.

Pedro, are these comments similar to ones you hear in the Hispanic community -- a mix of yes or no?

Unknown: A hello, everyone.

Yes, to an extent, it's a lot of the similar sentiments, we've also seen a lot of exhaustion considering that we are going into year three of the pandemic.

So it's, it's we're also seeing the fact that people don't want to continue doing the precautions or believe that, hey, maybe because I got the disease, or because people that I know, got it, like it's time to move on.

And it's been kind of difficult to that end.

So that's why we've been trying to further emphasize the idea that while maybe the restrictions are going on, it's still very important to continue taking care of our community, and continue being vaccinated and continue wearing masks and things of that nature.

Lori Townsend: Thank you, Pedro, for getting us started.

Felicia, how about for you hearing those comments?

Does it sort of reflect what you're hearing in the Mountain View area?

Unknown: I would say 100%.

I feel like there's still a lot of advocates that are out there for the vaccine.

I think people at this point are just tired.

They it's been around long enough that, you know, they've made their decision, they made their choice.

We still are trying to advocate for the vaccine if you have not been vaccinated, but it's kind of like, well, when is it gonna end?

How long do I have to keep getting tested?

I feel fine.

So I mean, they're they're still they're still a lot of that.

I think.

I think everybody that spoke touch bases on kind of everybody's opinion at this point, like it's, you know, if you say it for one person, I'm sure 100 more thinking the same thing.

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

And I think especially in our instantaneous world that we live in now where things move so quickly, and people just are, as you both noted, exhausted and want to be done with this and move on from it, Sondra, how about you in the research that you do, and working with the DIS the community of Alaskans with disabilities.

Maybe it's a different conversation within folks that have those health concerns?

Unknown: Well, I think that certainly the things that, as has been mentioned by the other guests that we heard are very reflective of sort of the public in general ready to move into a place of what they might consider normal and treating COVID as just a part of our society now.

We also recognize, though, that individuals with disabilities have been impacted significantly by COVID, throughout the pandemic, and including now, and that the idea that we need to return to a sense of normal for many people who might be highly immunocompromised, or have disabilities that impact their ability to be able to have COVID and survive.

For them.

Normal means going back to some further isolation as a result of some of the masks mandates being lifted, etc.

So I think that there is this conversation, it's important for us to be having two years into the pandemic about where are we going, where are we and where are we going, but also recognizing that there are a lot of people who are still very much impacted by COVID as we look towards the future.

Lori Townsend: Such an important reminder that while other folks may feel relief at being able to quit wearing a mask if that's what the local restrictions are and have been lifted, but for people that have compromised health all the time, that's a sign that they may have to further isolate.

That's a, an important thing for us all to keep in mind.

Thank you.

Pedro, I want to go back to you.

What can you tell us about the number of Spanish speaking Alaskans, and the rate of vaccination among them?

Unknown: A well, in regard to the number of Spanish speaking Alaskans, one of the things that was kind of surprising, at least to me when we began is that we are more than most people usually think, like, a lot of people tend to think that there is like a small number of people in the Hispanic community.

But the number ranges, at least in Alaska, approximately a little bit around 50,000 people.

So it's still like a sizable amount of the population.

Most of the people are from Mexico, Dominican Republic, there's a lot of the Colombian population as well.

So in regards to the vaccination, though, despite being such a large group, the Hispanic population has been trailing behind other ethnic groups in regards to vaccination.

A big reason for that, is that there's a lot of misinformation happening in social media and in our world, like the Hispanic environments.

In fact, that recent data that I was looking, says that about a quarter of the verifications of like fact checking organizations that have been made in, till September of last year, so like about a quarter of all COVID-19, factchecking happened for like over America, so Latin America and Spain, and only 10% of the global population lives there.

So the amount of this information happening is significant and sizable.

Lori Townsend: Right, 50,000.

That is, that is a very impressive number of Spanish speaking individuals in the state.

And what do you know about booster rates among those who have been vaccinated are folks then going back and getting those booster shots?

Unknown: Regarding boosters, I don't have the exact number.

But we've been seeing just in general at the booster rate has been a little slightly lesser than the vaccination rate.

So I think that potentially for the Hispanic community, it will be a similar situation.

Lori Townsend: Right, we do see that, unfortunately.

You talked a little bit about this, but talk about what you were hearing in the Hispanic community about COVID and vaccines.

And how has the conversation changed in this last year?

Unknown: Well, in regards to what we've been seeing, we've been kind of seeing a lot of like similar disinformation to what do you see in the US, so in general concerns about what the vaccines are going to do to people, but also you have it combined with a historical kind of hesitance and trust towards health authorities.

And the other big thing is that you have this information that appeals to a lot of cultural values as well.

So it's really common for you to suddenly see WhatsApp or in a Facebook feed posts that say, Hey, you don't need to be vaccinated, you can try red pepper and lemon and tea.

And like some people in those networks tend to believe that, so you're getting this idea of not only the vaccine, but portrayal of like other unproven alternatives to the vaccine that are also quite concerning.

Lori Townsend: Tell us Pedro a little bit about the COVIDatos laska website.

Unknown: So COVIDatos is a website as well, but it's also media strategy.

So we have our website where we have resources in Spanish, about one why the vaccine is safe.

And second, why people can be vaccinated.

But the big onus of our campaign right now is also happens on social and traditional media.

So what we believe is that since there's so much noise about this information happening in online Hispanic spaces, what we think is that we can create content, that one is not a translation of what we see in English, but content that is generated in terms that are both appealing and understandable and directed towards the Alaska Hispanic community, and from them when they see our content, and they are reminded one of the importance of boosters or the importance of being vaccinated.

They can be geared towards our sites so they can have the information of where they can get the vaccine.

So that's kind of the overall spirit of the campaign.

Lori Townsend: All right, fantastic.

Thank you.

Felicia, turning back to you now.

We know how diverse the Mountain View neighborhood is.

It's right next door to my neighborhood.

I love that it was the most diverse zip code in the united states in the nation in 2010 Census.

That's a fun statistic.

Talk about that diversity and who the residents of Mountain View are.

Unknown: Yeah, so we have about 8000 residents here was like in one point square mile.

We're very diverse.

I mean, anywhere from white, Black, the Asian people community, the Hispanic community, we have a lot of refugees that come to this community when they arrive to Alaska, from Nigeria, Gambia, Middle East.

So we do have a very diverse population.

And I'm excited for that I love seeing all the different cultures, meeting them, connecting with them getting their views on it, because a lot of cultures have different views on the COVID situation, and there's some religion restrictions on to why they feel a certain way about the vaccine and getting tested.

So, yeah, we serve a big population.

And it's very word of mouth in Mountain View, because I think it's such a tight knit community.

I believe, and from what I see, and I see the people walk in, is that they talk, they talk amongst themselves.

So it's a lot of feeling secure, as well as what their peers are doing with the vaccine situation.

And I'm gonna ask you again, I don't know the second part of your question.

Lori Townsend: Well, let's, let's talk a little bit about, you know, the, within this rich diversity in Mountain View, the challenge in being able to communicate with people who speak so many different languages, how are you able to do that, to help them understand complex medical information and help reassure them that they can trust it?

Unknown: Yes, so what we do here is, it's kind of a benefit, we are a health care facility.

So we have that, I guess that luxury of having that multiple hotline where if I have somebody who I can't communicate with, I can dial the number, and I can have a middleman, converse in what we're saying.

I also do pull from a website that has the information in different multiple languages.

So sometimes, it's just as simple as 'Hold on, let me print this out for you.

And so you can read it over.'

So because there is that barrier, in a lot of Mountain View, English is not their first language.

So I want to make sure that I can either have that middleman where we can sit down face to face and have a conversation with someone translating, or you leave me in our facility with information at hand that you may need to go home and take the time to read.

And I find that has been very helpful.

I know I gave an example, yesterday that the man I don't know his language, I can't remember.

But it was, I called the the translator, we translated I found out what, what dialogue to print his information in.

And he came back and got vaccinated because it was just simply nobody gave him that resource to understand what he was doing.

So it was kind of I know that it's there.

But why is it there?

Why do I need it.

And so he took the time to educate himself in a way that he could educate itself, and made the decision to come back and get vaccinated.

So it's just finding resources to remove those barriers and providing those resources to the people.

It's time, I take a lot of time with everybody who walks through my door, but I'm okay with doing that.

Because I want them to have that information.

We want them to have that information.

We want them out to the community to be safe, and know that 'hey, I might not find this here.

But maybe I can find is there.'

And I feel like that has been a big benefit with when it comes to those barriers.

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

Thank you for that.

What a key point that if people have information in the language that they're comfortable with that that represents their worldview, and the way that they think about complex issues, it's much easier for them to then feel comfortable in making decisions about their health.

Thank you.

That's a really key point.

Sondra, you've conducted a study and survey among Alaskans with disabilities.

Tell us about that research and what did you find were the biggest concerns about the vaccine in this population?

Unknown: Great, thank you.

So we are a part of a group that came together in 2021.

That was a partnership to really look at how to make the COVID-19 vaccine more accessible for individuals across the state and particularly individuals with disabilities.

And so that partnership includes groups like the Statewide Independent Living Council, the Disability Law Center of Alaska, as well as the Center for Human Development and state agencies.

And one of the things that we wanted to do was say, we don't want to be in a position where we're guessing what people are thinking, let's ask them.

Now that the vaccine is out there, have you chosen to get it?

What were your motivators for getting the vaccine?

What were some of the barriers that you might have experienced?

And what are the trusted sources of information that you turn to when you want to learn about vaccines.

And so we asked both individuals with disabilities, as well as individuals who support people with disabilities.

And the return that we received, this survey was conducted at the end of August and early September.

And our goal was to really take the information that we gained, and share it with others in Alaska, who were either individual providers or larger scale planners around vaccines and distribution and dispensing and say, here are some other factors that are really important to take into consideration.

And so some of the top things that we learned or key findings were for individuals with disabilities who answered the survey, most of them had chosen to be vaccinated.

And so the motivators that they identified, were protecting themselves, protecting their family and friends and protecting their community.

And they had choices of other things such as resuming my social activities or resuming travel.

But that isn't what they chose.

They chose protecting themselves and others as really their top motivators.

And then when we looked to barriers for barriers, they described, things like their top barriers, or top concerns, were things like being concerned that their medical condition will be made worse by the vaccine, being concerned that they can't take time off work because of side effects from vaccine, or simply about the side effects in general.

And then the care providers and other people who support individuals with disabilities also further talked about the logistical problems, transportation to get the vaccine, and understanding how to set up the appointment and being able to easily get an appointment.

Those were other types of barriers that were specific to individuals they were supporting.

And so those were some of the things that we learned that we were then able to take back and start talking a little bit more about how can we change this dynamic and really support people and being able to access the vaccine more easily.

Lori Townsend: Thank you for that very important points to about the the layers of complications for folks with disabilities, that they have to make those real considerations when you're taking other medications, how this might be, how the the vaccine may affect that and further compromised their health.

So all really smart questions, and it's great that you were able to provide information to them.

Children, as we know had to wait the longest for a vaccine.

Let's watch a story now about how pediatricians are working with parents to get kids vaccinated.

The CDC authorized COVID vaccines for kids age 5 to 11 in November, but vaccination rates for this age group lag far behind the rates for older kids and adults.

In Alaska, only 25% of kids age 5 to 11 have received at least one shot nationally.

31% have.

As Alaska Public Media's Katie Anastas reports, pediatricians in Anchorage say misinformation is a big problem as they work to help parents understand the vaccines are safe.

Unknown: Even though vaccines have been available for kids for months.

Dr. Kilian Schafer gets a lot of the same questions from parents as he did in November.

He tries to address parents concerns and explain how getting kids vaccinated can help other family members.

A lot of times, being able to travel, having family visit being able to visit family, especially family that may have health problems.

This encourages the parents to get their kids vaccinated as well.

He says some parents were quick to bring their kids to his office's drive through vaccination clinic back in November.

All right, here's a quick poke.

But most parents are still hesitant.

Even if they're vaccinated and boosted themselves.

A lot of people like to consult Dr. Google which that can cause a lot of problems because there's a lot of misinformation.

Much of that misinformation revolves around this being a new type of vaccine.

It contains mRNA rather than a live virus like the chickenpox vaccine does, or a dead virus like flu shots do.

they are more than willing to get their kids vaccinated for all the prior childhood vaccines that have been available, but some are wanting to wait to see as far as this new vaccine is concerned.

Parents are already confused about mRNA vaccines and that makes misinformation that much more effective, says Dr. Jeff Brand.

I've had several parents like I don't want to give it to my daughter and have to tell her 20 years from now when she can't have a baby it was from the vaccine, which one is not true, and two, you're going to wait 20 years to see if something possibly might happen which there's no reason for it to happen.

It doesn't get into DNA, it doesn't get into the ovaries.

It doesn't change your DNA.

And you're going to deal with the risk for 20 years because of something that isn't even real.

Brand often compares the COVID-19 vaccine to other vaccines, like the polio or measles vaccines.

He says any negative side effects from a vaccine usually appear in a population within the first year.

When measles vaccine came out in the 60s.

Nobody knew what was going to happen one or two years later, and they didn't wait till they were 35 to figure it out.

That's what's going on now.

I've been doing this since 1982.

I've never seen a long term side effect from a vaccine.

One rare complication from vaccination in teens is myocarditis, which causes chest pain and other symptoms.

But studies show that it's extremely rare and usually subsides quickly.

COVID-19 infections bring greater risks for heart problems like multi-system inflammatory syndrome, than COVID vaccinations.

Omicron has brought up new questions.

Rand says many people are wondering why they should bother getting vaccinated at all if they're going to get COVID anyway.

Just being infected alone didn't prevent anybody from getting omicron.

Just being vaccinated alone, protected you from ending up in the hospital are deathly ill, but it didn't protect you from getting omicron.

But the two of them together is a much better deal.

And he says it's important to recognize how well the vaccines do protect people.

Very, very early on.

It was like, if we can get a vaccine that's as effective as the flu vaccine, we'll be happy.

But then we had two vaccines come out that are 90, what 80-90% effective at preventing death and preventing hospitalizations and people kind of got spoiled.

Brand reminds parents to read trustworthy sources.

Avoid scientific studies that aren't peer reviewed and ask pediatricians about any concerns.

In Anchorage, I'm Katie Anastas.

Lori Townsend: What a fence tastic story.

Thanks so much to Matt Faubion and Katie Anastas.

Felicia, I want to turn to you you work in in health care, but said initially, you also had some reservations about the vaccine.

Felicia, tell us about that.

What were those hesitations?

Let's go to Felicia.

Unknown: Okay, so I was very skeptical.

It took me a while I think I was probably the last one in my organization to get vaccinated.

And it was due to my own health issues, multiple allergies, just not knowing and I was one of those people who they talked about, I wanted to wait, I wanted to wait to see how everybody else did around me, I wanted my family members to go before me, I was never against the vaccine, I was just I had my own reservations.

And it was just simply due to my own health ailments that I have to deal with every day, I didn't want anything to make that worse.

I have a child I can't get sick and be away from him.

I you know, I pay a mortgage, I don't want to miss a mortgage payment.

So it was just a a lot of hesitation.

And I will say my own personal story is that I did get the Maderna vaccine.

I reacted very poorly to it, ended up going to the ER behind it.

Discussed it with my primary care provider and she basically just told me that no more mRNA vaccines.

So the only option that I had was to go and get J & J, which was fine.

And the reason why I did that personally for myself, is because I wanted my child to get vaccinated, and I wanted him to have that protection.

And me as a mother, I was not going to let him get vaccinated without me getting vaccinated.

Just just my own personal perspective, and how me and him go about our life.

So there there definitely was some hesitancy and it was just because of all of my allergies.

Lori Townsend: Well, those are certainly valid concerns.

You had very valid questions and concerns.

And it's good that you took the time.

And I'm sorry, you had such a negative reaction to the first vaccine.

But you did get vaccinated.

That's the good news.

And, and you I found it really interesting that you let your 16-year-old son decide whether he wanted to get vaccinated or not.

I guess because you work in health care.

I was a little surprised by that.

But tell us why you decided to let him make that decision on his own.

And then what he did decide ultimately.

Unknown: Yeah, so the reason why I did let him decide because I feel like he was 16 And I tell all of my patients that come through my door and I sit down and I talk with that I'm not here to take away your autonomy.

I'm here to educate you, give you the resources that you need.

And I believe that I treated my son the same way.

He's 16-years-old.

You make this choice, you think about it.

You know, he, he's old enough to do his research.

If he felt comfortable, I wanted him to be comfortable doing and I didn't want it to be like Mama's making you get this because I did it.

I wanted him to, to, I guess, build his own opinion behind it and make the proper choice for him.

And I believe that maybe I did a little bit persuading, because I did get vaccinated.

And so he's kind of like, mom did it, I could do it.

And I feel like, that's what happens within a lot of families.

You know, like, I had my reservations, I did wait for family members to get vaccinated.

So I could see how they responded to it.

They, they did well, some of them were down for a few days, you know, the soreness, the they had some, some body aches, they they survived it.

And I felt like okay, you know what, my dad did it.

My uncles did it.

Felicia, you can do this.

And I told myself, I could do this, and I wanted my son to, to not feel the pressure, but to make his choice.

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

You know, I also when I got vaccinated was down with the second shot for quite a number of hours, but I kept reminding myself, you know, this is going to subside and go away, you know that you don't have COVID, and that you could get steadily worse and end up in the hospital on a ventilator.

I have asthma.

So I have concerns about my health as well.

So even though it was my it was unpleasant, I I felt okay about that, because I knew that it wasn't it wasn't the disease itself, and I would recover.

So I'm so glad that you're vaccinated and your son as well.

Thank you for that story about how you got there.

Sondra, you talked about a father and a son who wanted to ask questions about how the vaccine could interact or cause trouble with the medications the Son has for his disability.

This sounds like proper due diligence on their part, how did it all turn out?

Unknown: So one of the things that that is referencing is a series of videos that the Disability Law Center of Alaska put together, and it was kind of a partnership work together to think about how do we center make sure that the voices of individuals with disabilities are being centered in this discussion, and that they are really speaking directly to others in Alaska.

And so this video series, each has, it's called the Vaccine Champions video series.

And it really looks at someone's experience and their decision making process and why they decided to get the vaccine and what message they have for others in Alaska.

And so the one that you're referencing, Michael and Ross is in that series.

And they really talk about jointly making a decision.

While it is an individual with a guardian, they jointly make that decision.

And they really look at all the different considerations of, you know, if I'm taking medications, if I have a medical condition, I'm going to proactively talk to my provider and my pharmacist, I'm going to ask about whether these things interact.

And then together, we're going to take all of that information and make what decision we think is best together.

And so when they made that decision, Ross decided ultimately that he did want the vaccine.

And so you can see that in the video.

And he talks about just advocating for himself and feeling good about standing up for his health.

And so I really encourage people to take a look at those videos at the Disability Law Center of Alaska's website, and they have a YouTube series because they really do a great job of encapsulating the thought process that I think a lot of people go through, regardless of whether you are a person with a disability or a person without a disability, you are walking through these different elements of how does this interact with my health?

Will it make it better or worse, I need some maybe support thinking this through from my primary care provider who I trust or my pharmacist who I trust, and let's talk about this, and they do a great job of really encapsulating that process in two minutes.

Lori Townsend: Fantastic.

And we will certainly link to those videos on our website at the Alaska Public Media slash Alaska Insight posts.

Let's look at some of the comments that came in to Alaska Public Media on social media.

This is an email from Roxanne who says I'm fully vaccinated.

I'm 60 years old, retired.

I'm Native and have had diabetes.

I've been I have also been vaccinated for all the regular needs as a child, as have my three children are fully grown.

Her oldest got vaccinated as soon as possible just like she did but her sons did not until the her oldest and the whole family got COVID And then they started talking about vaccination but she said she isn't sure if they have yet she said she He lives in the Mat-Su Valley and the comments on the Facebook post that she says has been my life angry white people with rights giving me dirty looks when I go out wearing my mask.

I could go on with a terrible lack of consideration, verbal attacks, etc.

I'm sure you all know.

And another comment on Facebook: Wendy says, I was vaccinated and boosted with Moderna day after each vaccination, I was basic, I've lit basically lay on the couch all day.

All good now, though.

Almost everyone I know is vaccinated and boosted too.

No adverse effects.

And one more here: Roy says, he is not in favor of vaccines and says 'Vaccines are about money, keeping people sick, killing and creating customers for life.

This has always been true.

Now more than ever.'

Pedro.

Those are stark differences in thought about getting vaccinated or not.

And we know that that's out there that there are people with wide ranging opinions about this.

Do These comments reflect what you're hearing from Hispanic Alaskans, a wide range of perspectives like this?

Unknown: Yes, absolutely.

Like it's we're getting a very much a similar response.

People usually like are experiencing the same idea.

And we tend to encounter it just in in Spanish.

But usually what the big thing has been that people are tired, and are also concerned that hey, is this something that is going to be perpetual?

Say every couple of weeks ago, we made a post a normal post in which we remind people Hey, these are the places in Anchorage where you can get vaccinated and calm and call my attention that was someone asking, do you the is this something that we're going to have to do a every every year now there's something for everybody?

And are we going to have to get a vaccine?

And at this point, of course, with many things regarding COVID?

We don't have a clear answer for that.

But the big thing about this idea is that when we think our new normal, and when we think about returning back to a sense of normalcy, or learning to live with COVID, I think -- oh wait, did my camera freeze?

Lori Townsend: No you're fine.

Unknown: Okay, good.

I got concerned for a second.

But learning to live with COVID does not mean ignoring that it exists, it means that you have to adapt to live your life in a way that protects people with disabilities, that protects people who are born level.

That includes adapting classrooms, that includes getting vaccinated with, say, vaccines, or if you feel sick, wearing a mask.

Like these are things that are small burdens that you can take on yourself, and that are going to have a big impact on the people around.

So a big thing is just to remind us that a lot of the things that you're doing, yes, are there for yourself.

But they're also because you want to be a good neighbor, because you want to be a good member of your community.

And because you want to ensure that people that can be prevented from suffering, we can prevent from suffering.

A big thing when discussing these polarizing ideas or ideas that sadly have become polarized, is trying to find large underlying themes in which you can relate to people.

And one of the big things that we do in our conversations with people have been, hey, like we both agree that we want people to be safe.

None of us want people to die of COVID.

And sadly, that's something that many families have experienced.

Many dining tables have a chair that is empty.

And so once you have this universal experience, you kind of have to learn that there's, we need to do something that's it's not fair for people to continue suffering, and especially vulnerable communities.

So it's all about trying to take care about yourself and be hey, let's be good people.

Let's care about others.

Lori Townsend: All right, thank you.

Let's hear from an Alaskan who was initially reluctant to get vaccinated.

Thomas in Palmer had hesitations about the vaccine initially, and wanted to better understand mRNA technology before he got the shot.

Unknown: After I saw that they can cure your cancer and they're curing sickle cell anemia using RNA technology, and I became more like an armchair expert on it, I was real comfortable to take that vaccine.

Lori Townsend: Such an interesting comment there and a turnaround.

Felicia, you mentioned earlier that you could not that the mRNA vaccine, you couldn't tolerate that it made you quite ill. What were you able to learn anything about why you had such a negative reaction to that but were able to take the other vaccines?

Unknown: Um, I I didn't I really kind of just discussed it with my primary care.

Um, I think she did the research for me.

I didn't quite do the research for myself.

It's just with all my, just my own health ailments, I just don't think I was a good candidate for it.

And then her going back, and you know, clarifying that, hey, well, since you did have this reaction, it's kind of like at that point for me, it was kind of like trial and error.

We tried it.

I can't do it.

Kind of like just when you eat something, you try it, I can't have shellfish.

I tried it, I can't do it.

So I think more so I didn't really, I think at that point, for me, personally, I didn't really dig more deeper into it, I just reached to my primary care and was like, hey, this happened.

And she says, Well, you know, it could be a multitude of things, your body just reacted poorly to it just like it does to certain other things.

But what we can do is not go back to that vaccine or not go back to the mRNA.

Let's do Johnson & Johnson.

Just because I did react to that.

Like we didn't know we didn't dig deeper.

We didn't do any blood work.

We just knew that this was a poor reaction.

Your body doesn't like it.

So we're not going to give it to your body again.

Lori Townsend: And it does a lot of the hesitation that you hear from people center on confusion and suspicion about that very thing that mRNA people don't understand what it is and how it differs from other vaccines.

Does a lot of the concern that you hear about people who are hesitant.

center around that?

Unknown: I haven't I haven't heard a lot about the type of vaccine more than they just have the misinformation about all the vaccines, there's that hesitancy T with just being vaccinated for COVID itself?

Um, I think I probably heard more question about Johnson & Johnson due to the fast rollout of it.

And, and it was it's kind of one of those things where, you know, you have the Pfizer and Moderna on the market.

J&J comes out Pfizer, Moderna become okay.

Now it's like a Janssen.

What?

What, what is this?

What?

There's not enough data on that.

So I don't think it's about the type of vaccine.

I just think it's overall getting the vaccine.

Lori Townsend: I see.

Thank you.

Pedro, I want to go back to you.

There are numerous and valid historical reasons why Black and Indigenous people distrust government, and may be hesitant to get vaccinated.

Do you see similar mistrust of government within the Hispanic community?

Unknown: In general, we have very different histories.

So it's not that we have like the same the same reasons we haven't had those experiences yet.

But at this one, what we've seen in comments on social media, or hearing of what is being thought about, usually it follows on the line of political polarization.

So people usually tend to believe that, like vaccines are a communist experiment is something that we get on Facebook a lot.

So it's not in itself that they're trustworthy, or they don't have trust on like the health care system per se.

But it's more that, hey, this might be a larger widespread conspiracy, that we that people feel that they need to be careful for, which of course, is false.

So yes, that's on that front.

Lori Townsend: All right, Sondra, you said a CDC report found that people with disabilities trusted vaccines at a higher rate than people without disabilities, but we're less likely to get vaccinated.

Follow up a little bit.

You talked about some of this earlier.

But what's known about the why there?

Unknown: So we did talk about in our report, we referenced this from the CDC, where they're really starting now to look at data and say, how do we make sure that we're capturing the full picture of the experience of everyone, including people with disabilities, and again, acknowledging that individuals with disabilities have been significantly impacted in many negative ways by the COVID pandemic?

And so are we ensuring that the group who shouldered so much of the negative impacts also have access to the vaccine?

And so yes, they did find that individuals with disabilities reported at a higher rate trusting the vaccine, but at a lower rate of having received the vaccine.

And so again, one of the reasons why we put our survey out there was to say, what can happen to try to reduce these barriers?

What are the barriers and what are the motivators?

And what are the sources of information that you use as an individual in Alaska that can also be augmented and give you greater access?

And so that's where you You know, again, going back to some of the comments that I made earlier, the transportation, the fears about medical conditions, which I think we've heard echoed several times throughout, you know, to this particular production, because that the sense of how am I going to manage these side effects and still go to work and still do, the things that I need to do are things that resonate with everyone.

But also looking at are there some ways that we can do something that's a little bit more innovative around home based vaccination, and meet people where they are at in their homes?

Are they more likely to be able to get the vaccine in those locations?

So some of those things can be helpful as we look at how can we, you know, increase access.

And then speaking to some of the conversations that have been had about trusted sources of information, primary care providers came out quite a bit at the top of the list for the people who are providing health information in a way that's trusted to individuals with disabilities.

And then the care provider said it was family and friends at the top of the list.

And then primary care providers were also near the top.

And so we see those two elements being really important as both the primary care providers and family and friends having good information and the primary care providers.

The key piece is that information needs to be available in a way that all types of individuals can understand.

So clear language resources, visual representations, things that the CDC produces and that are available to download for free.

We link them in our report, because it's incredibly important that people are able to look at and understand these resources about the vaccine and therefore feel more confident about getting the vaccine.

Lori Townsend: And again, we will link to resources such as those on the alaskapublic.org/alaskainsight page.

Let's hear from another Alaska now: Roz'lyn Grady Wyche is the cofounder of the Alaska Coalition of BIPOC Educators.

She tested positive for COVID last fall after waiting to get vaccinated.

She made the decision to get vaccinated after recovering.

Here's why Roz'lyn says she was initially hesitant.

Unknown: I was unvaccinated because I was scared and a lot of misinformation was going around.

So it wasn't so much that I didn't want to get it.

I just wanted to see what came from my peers being vaccinated.

Lori Townsend: Felicia, you said not everyone in your family is vaccinated, but you don't try to persuade them to do so why not?

Unknown: Because what I what I do is, I don't try to vote, you know what you can say this kind of persuasion because I just, you know, talk to them about them, I educate them about it.

Um, I, like I said, kind of with my son, we all have our own autonomy, this is not forced, this needs to be a choice when it becomes forced.

I feel like you get more resistance than making it a choice for people.

Like, I'm going to give you the information, I will sit down and I will have that conversation with anybody.

And I can relate to Rosalyn because it wasn't that I had missed information.

I work in health care.

It was just I was on the, you know, the backburner for myself because I have, I have health conditions, I have conditions that I was worried about, and I didn't want to be slowed down are taken away from my life.

So I don't I am not here to force I'm here to educate.

I'm here to make sure that I can provide those resources for you.

Like if they they have a question about the variance, you know, I was talking to my aunt the other day actually want to restore house to help her out.

And she was like, Well, I just don't understand about these variants.

And I said, Okay, she's not vaccinated.

I said, Okay, well, let me give you that information.

So you become I feel like it's internally comfortable with what you're deciding to do for you.

And that's why I don't push it on them.

I want to be available to to give them the information that they're looking for.

And I do that best.

I mean, I do my best with everybody who walks in the door.

Like if I if I can't find this for you, I'm going to dig where maybe somebody else can and kind of like Saundra said, it's like it's family and it's your health care provider.

Like with the mRNA I didn't do digging until why I couldn't have it because I trusted my primary care provider to to help me so I we built that trust, and I and I want to do that with my family and I want to do it.

Do that with people who walked to the door like I'm trusting me enough to give you some information for you to make the best decision for yourself.

Lori Townsend: You mentioned that everyone is autonomous but isn't that mindset a bit at odds with public health protocols and working to control the spread of disease.

If people only think of themselves when they live in a congregate settings, in large, multi unit housing places or in nursing and assisted living homes or even in just communities, when people live in these close quarters, how do we defeat the diseases as we did in the past with polio and diphtheria and other things?

If people think, Well, I'm only concerned about me.

Unknown: And I do mention that, I do mention that.

And what I mean by that having that autonomy is that you're going to have to make that that choice, you're going to have to make that choice for yourself to get vaccinated.

But with that you do think about your family, you do think about the community that you're around, you do think about your living situations.

So while you're thinking about yourself, you think about others.

Like for myself, it was my choice.

But I thought about going to visit my dad, being in the household with my son, and I work in health care, you know, like, you have to remove that selfish barrier.

And then, but also keep yourself in mind, but think about the others around you.

And that's part of the spiel that I give to everybody.

Like there's, there's more besides you, you have to make this choice for you.

But you have to consider those that are around you, you have to consider where you work, you have to consider where you live.

So at the end of the day, you're making this choice for you.

But you have to take into considerations, the people around you, and especially the concerns about the loved ones that you either have to take care of, or you have to transport to school, or if even if it's a roommate, you have to think about all those aspects.

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

Felicia, we're getting close to running out of time.

And I want to give all of you one, just I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and passion for this work.

Thank you so much all of you make your final pitch.

You've all talked to countless Alaskans for countless hours to try to convince them that the vaccine is safe and effective.

What are your final thoughts in about 30 seconds to make that case tonight, to our viewers about why they should get vaccinated right now Felicia, go ahead and make your pitch and then we'll let Pedro and Sondra continue.

Unknown: I would say think about yourself.

Think about your family and think about how you want to see your community develop and grow and be healthy.

Lori Townsend: Well, thank you so much, Pedro.

From your perspective, what what would you like to say to the folks who are watching this evening and, and make that pitch about why they should go get that shot?

Unknown: I would just want them to remember a time in which we were with other people, we were in a concert, or a party, we were out to dinner, and that sense of community and that sense of joy that being with others being you and that we have an outlet to return to that and that outlet is a vaccine.

So getting vaccinated means returning to that sense of gathering and of community that is so important for everyone.

Lori Townsend: So just get the vaccine so that you can get back to having a good time with friends and family and, and gathering safely.

Unknown: Honestly yeah!

Lori Townsend: Absolutely.

Thank you Sondra, your thoughts about this, make your pitch to why you want Alaskans to protect themselves and others in their community.

Unknown: I think the best thing that I can do is reflect the words of the individuals in the videos who have talked about their motivations, that that reconnecting with others, and protecting your health, but protecting the health of the people who you live with, and who you interact with every day is something that's very empowering that you can do during a really uncertain time.

And so, taking that message that the people shared with disabilities who chose to get their vaccine is something that I think can resonate with all Alaskans.

Lori Townsend: Alright, thank you so much all three of you for the work that you're doing on behalf of all of us in the community, and making sure that you get good information out to Alaskans.

It's not really surprising that so much comes down to who and what you trust when it comes to making medical decisions.

Ask questions of people you know, and trust in the healthcare field and within your circle of family and friends.

Make sure you have good peer reviewed medical information from long trusted sources such as the CDC.

And don't be confused by naysayers online who may or may not have medical degrees, but insists that only they have the real answers.

Cast a wide net, look at the full body of evidence regarding how many people have been vaccinated, and how the rates of serious illness are much lower within those folks.

And remember, we have had vaccines for many decades, and have successfully eliminated horrible diseases like polio, because of the effectiveness of those vaccine campaigns.

Trust medical professionals in making these decisions, not videos on TikTok, Facebook or YouTube.

Keep yourself your family and your community safe by getting your free vaccine and when it's time a booster and thank you for helping to protect the health of all Alaskans.

That's it for this edition of Alaska Insight.

For more conversations from our Talk to Your Neighbor series, tune into our radio programs Hometown, Alaska and Line One: Your Health Connection, and check out our website to share your story.

For everything else, be sure to tune in daily to your local public radio station for Alaska Morning News and Alaska news nightly, every weeknight.

Be part of important conversations happening on Talk of Alaska every Tuesday morning, and visit our website, alaskapublic.org for breaking news and reports from across the state.

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We'll be back next week.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Lori Townsend.

Good night.