Dallas County team fights misinformation to sway unvaccinated to get COVID-19 shot

The man behind the counter at the Lake Highlands auto parts store said he hadn’t received his COVID-19 vaccine and Marisa Gonzales wanted to know why.

Gonzales, a community outreach manager at Dallas County Health and Human Services, wants everyone to sign up for a vaccine. But she can’t force anyone, so she asks questions and provides facts.

On Friday at O’Reilly Auto Parts on Walnut Hill Lane, it meant telling the shop clerk, wearing a blue surgical mask, about a back-to-school vaccine clinic the county will host from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday Highlands High school. She wanted to make it known: free COVID-19 syringes for everyone over the age of 12. No appointment necessary.

The man was already sick with COVID-19, he said, and was too busy with work to get the injection.

“This will take 15 minutes down the street,” said Gonzales. “The Delta variant is here. It’s 80% of our cases. The best line of defense is a vaccine. “

In this Lake Highlands zip code, 75238, 43.6% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated – well below the herd immunity threshold and the 52% who are vaccinated statewide, according to the county. At the current rate of vaccination, the number of COVID-19 hospitals in Dallas County is estimated at 1,000 by August 16, according to a forecast by UT Southwestern Medical Center. The daily new infections should also be about the same or higher by then.

Gonzales has been doing this for months. The first attempt was to convince people to wear masks or to close their non-essential businesses. Now she’s trying to convince her to get the vaccine.

Many times people have already received their shot. At other times, she says, they can be more hostile.

But as long as the life-saving vaccinations are voluntary, a face-to-face interview is the best way to convince those who are still on the fence.

“We have to go to the people,” said Gonzales, “because the people don’t come to us.”

In areas like Lake Highlands, where more than half the population hasn’t had the syringe, the Dallas County Health Department is trying to bring science to their doorstep with a personal touch.

In black or dark blue polo shirts and comfortable sneakers, employees like Gonzales, Armando Martinez and Marcus Martin went door to door to get the word out.

They started around 9:00 am at the mall on Audelia Road and Walnut Hill. They carried several hundred flyers – in English and Spanish – with information about the clinic on Saturday.

A subway train allowed them to hang the flyers in the front window. Employees had already been vaccinated in a supermarket and a dental practice. Public health workers handed out brightly colored plastic sleeves for vaccination cards.

But even though many of the staff were vaccinated, confusion remained about the latest guidelines from health authorities.

“Everyone here is vaccinated,” said Tai Tran in his mall nail salon.

He wasn’t wearing a mask, so Gonzales mentioned that masking yourself inside is recommended to slow the spread of the virus.

“If we are vaccinated,” Tran asked, “is it okay, isn’t it?”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that people in areas with high transmission should resume wearing masks regardless of vaccination status. The move was in response to rising interest rates on the more contagious delta variant, but to many it seemed like a confusing flip-flop from previous predictions.

Gonzales didn’t correct Tran. A statewide order from Governor Greg Abbott means Dallas County cannot require anyone to wear a mask. Anything the workers can do is highly recommended.

Armando Martinez, liaison officer for the Dallas County Health & Human Services community, speaks to residents in Dallas about a back-to-school vaccination and a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Friday, July 30, 2021. (Elias Valverde II / The Dallas Morning News)(Elias Valverde II / employee photographer)

About an hour later, the three public health workers hiked up a hill on Audelia to Laverna in the Lake Highlands Apartments.

Gonzales, Martinez, and Martin broke up and knocked on doors throughout the complex. Most of the time nobody was home. After a few knocks with no answer, Martinez rang the doorbell and a man wearing a Dallas marshal face mask came on the door.

Steven Cofield said he works as a detention officer for the city. He has a 3 year old son and Martinez gave him a flyer for the back-to-school event.

“I’m sure you have your COVID vaccine,” Martinez said.

He does not have.

Cofield was concerned about the facts of the vaccine, he said, so Martinez rattled off a few important ones.

The Delta variant is sweeping through unvaccinated communities in Dallas County. Of all COVID-19 patients in hospitals nationwide, 97% are unvaccinated.

Cofield looked down at the flyer. He said he was considering signing up for admission, particularly for his son’s sake.

“I’ll go ahead and get mine,” he said. “I don’t want to take anything home that could kill him.”

Not everyone was that open-minded. The team heard everything from concerns about FDA testing to wild religious speculation that the vaccine is the “mark of the beast.”

A woman at the Lake Highlands apartment complex said she had never had a flu shot and had never gotten sick. So why get a COVID-19 vaccine?

Gonzales knocked on another door and a woman stuck her head out just long enough to see her clipboard.

“Oh, I don’t have time for whatever,” said the woman, slamming the door.

Marisa Gonzales, Dallas County Health & Human Services Community Outreach Program Manager (left), and Armando Martinez, DCHHS community liaison officer, are placing flyers for a vaccination and COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Dallas on Friday, July 30, 2021 for back to school. Gonzales and her team went door-to-door briefing residents and businesses about the free clinic held at Lake Highlands High School on July 31 (Elias Valverde II / The Dallas Morning News)(Elias Valverde II / employee photographer)

Gonzales laughed at it. She knows that not everyone will take the offer, but her job is simply to present the information.

Compassion, love, and concern, Gonzales said, are critical.

“The harder you push them,” she said, “the harder they push back.”

At 11:30 a.m. it was 94 degrees when the team crossed the street to another apartment complex. All three were sweating and began to take off their masks to make it easier to breathe between the buildings.

Gonzales and Martinez crossed a courtyard and up a flight of stairs to another door. Jeremiah Ngouan, 21, answered in basketball shorts. Martinez handed him a flyer and told him about the event. He asked if he was vaccinated. Ngouan said no.

“Well, Delta is on the rise,” Martinez said.

“Yes, I heard about it, but I didn’t do a lot of research,” said Ngouan.

Gonzales repeated the usual facts she had been saying all morning: think of your parents, aunts, uncles, or grandparents who may be at risk. He raised his eyebrows slightly.

She told him to stop by the high school clinic if he changed his mind.

“We’ll be there from 9 to 12,” she said.

Ngouan said he would consider it.

His main concerns? Hurry federal approval for the shots. He also fought COVID in December without getting too sick. He was also concerned that the vaccine could make people sick, a false theory that is being spread online.

But that free and convenient clinic just down the street from his apartment may do the trick. He wanted to go away soon, he said, and that might make him think about the shot.

“I might as well get it,” he said.

Gonzales and Martinez left to speak to a few more neighbors before they ran out of flyers and decided to call it a day.

They would have to wait until Saturday, with the cans ready and the needles prepped at the Lake Highlands Clinic, to see if their hard work paid off.

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Fair Park in South Dallas: Pop-up vaccination clinic for first and second dose of Pfizer, Lot 13, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday

Lake Highlands: Back-to-School Event for Childhood Vaccinations and COVID-19 Vaccines for Everyone Over 12, Lake Highlands High School, 9449 Church Road, Saturday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

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