N.J. immigrant communities were hard hit by COVID. Now, they may not have ready access to vaccines, experts f – NJ.com

Getting a spot in line for a coveted coronavirus vaccine has been a frustrating, chaotic process for countless New Jerseyans. It often entails navigating confusing websites, figuring out eligibility and scrambling to compete for an elusive slot.

The process is even more impossible if there is a language barrier or if you dont have access to a computer. Or the internet. Or a drivers license so you can drive to a vaccination site.

As the vaccination roll out continues, advocates say they are concerned that members of New Jerseys immigrant and undocumented communities may have difficulty getting vaccinated and that it may even be hard for them just to get much-needed information about available doses.

Immigrant workers and workers of color are highly represented in the essential workforce, said Sara Cullinane, the director of the advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey. They are doing the backbreaking, often risky work, so that other people can stay home and shelter in place. And so they must have access to vaccine. Our state wont be able to recover if they dont.

According to an NJ Advance Media analysis of town-by-town mortality data, municipalities with the greatest increase of deaths in 2020 often included those with the highest Hispanic populations, which all experienced disproportionate impacts from coronavirus.

In addition, Hispanic people account for 26% of New Jerseys coronavirus cases, despite making up 18% of the states total population, according to the states COVID-19 dashboard. And of the roughly 475,000 vaccination doses administered in the state as of Friday, only 5% were to Hispanic or Latinx people.

New Jersey health officials have acknowledged that communities of color and poverty experienced the worst of coronavirus as the disease further exposed longtime social disparities. And advocacy groups are sounding alarm bells about the need to get immigrant, undocumented and disenfranchised communities more direct access to the coronavirus vaccines.

Were never going to get to a place of equity and true healing without acknowledging the depth of pain that has happened in these communities precisely because they were ignored, said Amy Torres, Executive Director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. Working with community partners to identify those gaps and being able to be stewards of the message into communities that dont have that access is important.

New Jersey has 23 federally qualified health centers and 136 licensed sites that provide primary care services to people who are uninsured, underinsured or undocumented, according to Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman at the Department of Health. Many of these sites are scheduling vaccinations, and that theyre accessible by public transportation, Leusner said.

The Department has consistently said we will provide equitable access to all who live, work and are being educated in New Jersey, she said previously.

Additionally, the Department of Health is formulating plans to send mobile vans staffed with trained community health workers travel to community centers, churches and other sites to provide education and access to vaccination, Leusner said.

The community health workers will be able to discuss key issues about the vaccines without sharing names or addresses with immigration officials, she added.

The state is also planning on doing outreach, she said.

Once vaccine supply increases, the state will implement a public awareness campaign to work with community, faith and other local leaders to assist them in engaging with their communities to address concerns and provide fact-based information about the vaccine in multiple languages, as necessary, Leusner said.

Despite efforts by the state, Torres said, shes concerned about digital equity regarding the undocumented and immigrant communities, creating hurdles to sign up online. She said many dont have access to computers or internet, and even some that do have experienced problems with Google Translate plug-ins on state government vaccine websites.

The state started distributing the vaccine in December and, until now, has primarily relied on an online registration system. At a briefing earlier this week, state Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the state was in the final stages of setting up a call center that is expected to go live on Monday.

It will have an interactive voice response platform in both English ad Spanish that provides key information to New Jersey residents on how to register (for a vaccine) as well as how to schedule vaccination appointments as people become eligible, she said.

The phone number will be (855) 568-0545.

It is of utmost importance that the state makes a concerted effort to get information and vaccinations into undocumented and underserved communities, said Renee Wolf Koubiadis, director of the Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey. She pointed to the devastation the virus wrought on many in these communities in 2020 as a crucial reason why they should be among the early groups to get vaccinated.

These people, people of color in general, are more vulnerable to the effects of the virus, and there just needs to be an intentional plan to make sure that theyre getting the access to the vaccine, Koubiadis said. Its not unanticipated that there would be problems with this population accessing the vaccine because we certainly saw last year that people were unable to access the appropriate medical care.

One other hurdle, Torres and Cullinane said, is potential distrust of local officials within the undocumented and immigrant communities. Many are hesitant to communicate with local officials, making it more difficult to get vaccines into their arms, they noted.

That distrust makes it even more important that state officials work with local community and advocacy groups to get information into the hands of immigrant and undocumented populations, Torres said.

The state has partners in community-based organizations and faith-based institutions, Torres said. The solutions are there in the community.

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Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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N.J. immigrant communities were hard hit by COVID. Now, they may not have ready access to vaccines, experts f - NJ.com