A Latino advocacy group will hold a bilingual question-and-answer session about COVID-19 vaccines this afternoon.
Caleb Knutson, chair of the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs, says he fears people who are not fluent in English may be falling behind in terms of keeping up with the changing information about coronavirus and its vaccine options.
“The information is constantly changing,” Knutson says. “So as it’s happening, unless you’re a native English speaker or proficient in English, you’re going to be falling behind and that’s unacceptable.”
Knutson says he wanted to arrange this Q-and-A event to promote equitable access to the information in the state. He says if he’s confused by some COVID-19 information, others probably are as well, especially if English isn’t their first language.
“We need to do more,” he says. “It’s not enough just to say here’s the information dump, figure it out yourself. We need to help people, we need to dissect the information.” The virtual session on the commission’s Facebook page is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Two Spanish-speaking doctors from the University of Iowa will talk about general vaccine information as well as answer any questions from participants.
(By Kassidy Arena, Iowa Public Radio)
;
