WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — With now the COVID-19 vaccine accessible to anyone 12 and older, there is still resistance among Hispanics to get the shot.
Doctors at Soma Medical Center in West Palm Beach, whose patients are 80% Latino, said the younger age groups of Hispanics are less inclined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
"So daily, the first question we ask to all of our patients is, have you had the COVID vaccine?" said Dionys Fuster, a nurse practitioner at Soma Medical Center.
The Soma Medical Center has been providing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for about four to six months now.
Fuster says older Latino adults are more willing to get it. But when it comes to the younger crowd, it’s a different story.
"We have been having more troubles with the younger generation, the 20ss to the 45-year-olds are being more resistant to getting the vaccine," Fuster said.
A main cause, Fuster said, is misinformation on social media and people not doing their due diligence.
"There are some myths. Like usually the females have problems thinking that the vaccine will decrease their fertility. Which is not true, there is no science to prove it’ll decrease fertility," Fuster said.
And now with the Delta variant looming, Fuster is concerned about how it can impact the Latino community.
"It's the younger population that needs to get vaccinated. The people that go outside and socialize and go out. They need to be protected. Because if you’re not protected, that’s why we create these variants," Fuster said. "I try to post as much as I can. Our company, Soma Medical Center, is trying to post as much information as we can because the key to all of this is education."
