AUSTIN (KXAN) — Fresh data from the state shows the Central Texas area reached a grim figure on Friday: 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the 15 counties surrounding Austin.
Austin Public Health numbers show the Hispanic community is still hit the hardest locally. Now, just days before the vaccine is expected to arrive, some are asking whether Latinos will be among the first to get it.
There’s a mural on the corner of 5th and Congress, dedicated to the now more than 200 Hispanic lives lost to the virus at a disproportionate rate.
“Reading this, reality just hits you even harder,” Sinuehue Villafana said.
The bold image caught Villafana’s attention, who said he too lost family members to COVID-19.
“It’s just like the sense of worry and the fear, because everybody has children.”
Paul Saldana with the Austin Latino Coalition is worried about equity and access to the vaccine, since he says there’s been a lack of public education and engagement so far.
“We feel we know our community best, and we’re waiting on them to give us specifics, so we can work with them, to make sure our community is standing in line like everybody else,” Saldana said.
APH said it’s taking direction from the state and federal levels, saying it is still drafting a plan for distribution, which will be shown to the coalition once it’s done.
“Something tells me, that we’re going to have to be prepared to fend for ourselves again,” Saldana said.
On a gloomy day that matches the tone of those in the eye of the storm, Villafana hopes the lives lost aren’t forgotten.
“This isn’t a joke, we’re actually, literally seeing people die,” he said.
APH said once its first draft of the distribution plan is finalized, its coalition and the entire community will have a chance to add input to make sure it is equitable for everyone.
“Mitigating Health Inequities” due to factors like demographics, poverty, insurance status and geography, is one of seven criteria the state says it’s using to decide how to allocate COVID-19 vaccines.
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