CORVALLIS, Ore. — It was a classic cold and wet winter evening in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, but the mood was festive inside Max’s Food and More restaurant.
“One of the best things about events like these that bring Latinos together is that the credible messages folks learned here are expected to ripple throughout these Latino families and the larger networks they share."
As about 60 people finished dinner, the duo Chayag lifted spirits with Andean folk music. Some guests danced to the rhythms of the siku (Andean pan flute) and charango (similar to a guitar). Children whispered to each other and giggled.
They had come to attend a town hall-style vaccination information event hosted by the Oregon State University Extension Service. The event was part of its EXCITE project, which provides outreach to improve confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among Oregon’s Latino population.
EXCITE stands for Extension Collaboration on Immunization Teaching and Engagement. It’s a national partnership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Extension Foundation, a nonprofit partner of cooperative Extension.
The program’s long-term goal is to strengthen immunization education.
In 2021, OSU Extension received two EXCITE grants totaling about $225,000 — one to coordinate statewide educational efforts and another focused on Benton, Lincoln, Linn, Hood River and Wasco counties.
Sharing personal experiences
After Chayag’s performance, Mario Magaña Alvarez addressed the crowd in Spanish. Magaña Alvarez, an OSU EXCITE co-leader with deep ties to the Latino community in the mid-Willamette Valley, is an associate professor and state outreach specialist with OSU Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program.
He introduced guest speaker Gary Arfstrom, a licensed professional counselor from Hillsboro. Arfstrom is one of several professionals trained through Building Immunity by Building Communities, an Oregon Health Authority–funded partnership that provides expert information about COVID-19 in community settings.
Other partners include the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians, Boost Oregon and the Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network at Oregon Health & Science University.
Speaking in Spanish, Arfstrom shared personal stories about how COVID-19 had affected his life, including when he became ill himself. He also addressed the impact of misinformation.
“There are millions of pages of misinformation and valid information about vaccinations and COVID on the internet,” he said. “What’s important, and not easy to do, is to discern between the two, keep the conversations open, and revisit long-held beliefs about our healthcare.”
Arfstrom reminded participants that being vaccinated and boosted protects family members, especially elders.
Afterward, he said that Latinos and other underserved groups are justifiably cautious when told to get vaccinated.
“I just want to help them look at vaccinations differently,” he said. “I want to help people feel more comfortable about their decisions.”
Creating comfortable environments
Based on surveys completed after the event, many attendees said they learned more about vaccines than they had understood previously, according to Roberta Riportella, professor and Extension specialist in OSU’s College of Health and principal investigator on the EXCITE grants.
The event’s combination of music, food and conversation “created an environment specifically designed for comfort around potentially confusing and uncomfortable questions,” Riportella said.
“One of the best things about events like these that bring Latinos together is that the credible messages folks learned here are expected to ripple throughout these Latino families and the larger networks they share,” she said.
Outreach across Oregon
EXCITE has held several outreach events in collaboration with the Mexican consulate’s Portland office and in the consulate’s mobile clinics around the state.
People often attend the clinics to complete important legal paperwork, and the EXCITE team uses these opportunities to share vaccine information and answer questions.
EXCITE has also participated in the consulate-sponsored annual Latino health fair. At many of these events, local health authorities or providers offer on-site vaccination, while EXCITE team members provide credible information and direct people to the vaccination tents.
Better understanding of boosters
“Interestingly, we have heard at focus groups and outreach events from Latinos who are excited and proud to tell us that they are vaccinated,” Riportella said.
“Though it is also apparent that they do not understand that without a booster shot they are not up to date nor more fully protected from serious illness. A few within this group are showing signs of vaccine exhaustion, while others simply don’t understand the need for additional shots.
“Our job of giving accurate information on how important it is to stay up to date with boosters is not over.”
Riportella said sharing credible vaccine information is just as important now as it was in the spring of 2020 when COVID-19 first reached the United States.
“The good news is that 82% of Oregon’s Latino adult population has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, and this compares favorably to 86.3% of Oregon’s overall population,” she said.
“However, very few are getting COVID boosters. This includes our Latino population, which has a boosted rate of only 10% compared to 21% for the state’s population as a whole.
“This is unfortunate since COVID and all of its new variants are still with us, and we know that immunity wanes over time. Those a year or more from their last shots are not showing much immunity, especially to the new variants.”
