On Wednesday, Feb. 3, AL DÍA will publish its first article as part of its “Truth About the Vaccines” content series. 

Dr. Jose Torradas, a bilingual, board-certified Emergency Physician, wrote that the vaccines are “a beacon of hope” and their success is fully contingent on broad uptake within the Latinx community.

Every week for the next six months, AL DÍA News will be publishing dual-language, multimedia content in collaboration with medical institutions and community leaders to promote vaccine confidence among our audience.

According to the latest City of Philadelphia figures, Hispanics (the city’s descriptor) make up almost 15% of the city’s population and yet only 3.3% of those vaccinated in the city for COVID-19. 

These figures speak to a couple of realities about health care access in the city. 

The tiered system has excluded some Latinx elders, who often live in multigenerational households. Meanwhile, their children and grandchildren are at risk of exposure every day due to Latinx overrepresentation in the essential economic sectors that require frontline presence.

The resulting devastation has been tremendous, with the loss of lives and livelihoods creating further vulnerability and confusion. 

In this already challenging environment, the lack of consistent messaging about the vaccine directed at the Latinx community — both in Philadelphia and nationally — has allowed misinformation to spread unchecked. 

The emerging scandal around the city’s partnership with Philly Fighting COVID is a major setback that further erodes confidence in the vaccination process. 

AL DÍA News has a responsibility as the premier community media outlet serving the Latinx community in Philadelphia and the surrounding region to dispel misinformation and to disseminate the latest guidance from the Center for Disease Control.

Soon after the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in December 2020, AL DÍA News published an op-ed entitled “COVID Vaccine, Our Best Safeguard,” by Dr. Alejandro De Feria, a cardiovascular fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital.

“The only way to prevent vulnerable populations from continuing to suffer disproportionately from COVID is to follow safety guidelines and embrace the vaccines,” Dr. De Feria wrote. “Now is the time to roll up our sleeves, trust the science, and bring an end to this pandemic.”

Now with the “Truth About the Vaccines,” AL DIA News is rolling up its sleeves to help make the end of the pandemic a reality.

For more information on how to get involved, please contact Derick Gómez at derickg@aldianews.com.