Dallas County Team Tackles Misinformation to Influence Unvaccinated People and Get COVID-19 Vaccines

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

Gonzales, a community outreach manager with 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.

At O’Reilly Auto Parts on Walnut Hill Lane on Friday, that meant talking to the store clerk, who wore a blue surgical mask, about a back-to-school vaccination clinic that the county will host from 9 a.m. to midday Saturday at Lake Highland Highland School. She wanted to spread the word: free COVID-19 injections for anyone over 12. No appointment necessary.

The man had previously been ill with COVID-19, he said, and was too busy with work to get the vaccine.

“It will take 15 minutes, on the street,” Gonzales said. “The delta variant is here. This is 80% of our cases. The best line of defense is to get the vaccine.

In that 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 countywide, according to county data. At the current rate of vaccination, Dallas County hospitalization cases for COVID-19 are expected to reach 1,000 by Aug. 16, according to a forecast from UT Southwestern Medical Center. Daily new infections are also expected to be around the same number or more by then.

Gonzales has been doing this for months. First, he was trying to convince people to wear masks or shut down their non-essential businesses. Now she is trying to persuade them to get the vaccine.

Many times people have already received their blow. Other times, she says, they can be more hostile.

But as long as life-saving vaccinations are voluntary, talking to people one-on-one is the best way to convince those who are still on the fence.

“We have to go to the people,” Gonzales said, “because the people will not come to us.”

In areas like Lake Highlands, where more than half the population has not been vaccinated, the Dallas County Health Department is trying to bring science to their doorstep with a personal touch.

Dressed in black or dark blue polo shirts and comfy sneakers, staff members like Gonzales, Armando Martinez and Marcus Martin went door-to-door to spread the word.

They started around 9 a.m. in the Audelia Road and Walnut Hill Mall. They carried several hundred leaflets – in English and Spanish – with information about Saturday’s clinic.

A metro allowed them to hang the flyers on the front window. In a convenience store and dentist’s office, employees had already been vaccinated. Public health officials distributed colorful plastic pouches to hold the vaccine cards.

But even though many employees had been vaccinated, confusion persisted over the latest guidelines from public health officials.

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

He was not wearing a mask, so Gonzales mentioned that masking indoors is recommended to slow the spread of the virus.

“If we’re vaccinated,” Tran asked, “it’s okay, right? “

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

Gonzales did not correct Tran. A statewide ordinance from Governor Greg Abbott means Dallas County cannot require anyone to wear a mask. All workers can do is highly recommend it.

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

Gonzales, Martinez and Martin have gone their separate ways, knocking on doors throughout the complex. Most of the time, no one was home. After a few unanswered knocks, Martinez rang the doorbell and a man with a Dallas Marshal’s office face mask came to the door.

Steven Cofield said he worked 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 did not do it.

Cofield was worried about the facts about the vaccine, he said, so Martinez listed a few important ones.

The delta variant is tearing up unvaccinated Dallas County communities. Of all COVID-19 patients in hospitals nationwide, 97% are unvaccinated.

Cofield looked down at the flyer. He said he had considered signing up for shooting, especially for the sake of his son.

“I’m going to go ahead and get mine,” he said. “I don’t want to bring home something that could kill him.”

Not everyone was so receptive. The team has 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 never got sick, so why get the COVID-19 shot?

Gonzales knocked on another door and a woman poked her head just long enough to see her notepad.

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

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

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

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

It was 94 degrees at 11:30 a.m. when the team crossed the street to another apartment complex. All three were sweating and began to remove their masks to breathe better between the buildings.

Gonzales and Martinez crossed a courtyard and went up a flight of stairs to another door. Jeremiah Ngouan, 21, responded by wearing basketball shorts. Martinez handed him a flyer and told him about the event. He asked if he had been vaccinated. Ngouan said no.

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

“Yes, I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t done a lot of research,” Ngouan said.

Gonzales reiterated the standard facts she had been saying all morning: Think about your parents, aunts, uncles, or grandparents who might be at risk. He raised his eyebrows slightly.

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

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

Ngouan said he would think about it.

His main concerns? Federal approval rushed for the shots. In addition, he had fought COVID in December without getting too sick. He was also concerned that the vaccine would make people sick, a false theory that is spreading online.

But this free and convenient clinic, a stone’s throw from your apartment, may be enough. He wants to travel soon, he said, and that might make him consider shooting.

“I might as well get it,” he said.

Gonzales and Martinez left to talk to a few more of their neighbors before they ran out of fliers and decided to stop.

They would have to wait until Saturday, with the doses ready and the needles prepared at the Lake Highlands clinic, to see if their hard work has paid off.

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South Dallas Exhibition Center: Ephemeral vaccination clinic for the first and second doses of Pfizer, Lot 13, Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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