As Asking people to get vaccinated are growing louder, and a zip code review reveals pockets of resistance in several smaller, more rural communities in Santa Fe County.
Convincing residents of these communities to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated has become increasingly difficult despite financial incentives, health officials said.
“[Outreach specialists] go out and talk to people, some of whom have made up their minds, and sometimes their reactions were a little hostile when they made up their minds, ”said Jasmin Milz Holmstrup, chief development officer at La Familia Medical Center, which has worked closely with the Holmstrup State Department of Health and Santa Fe and Santa Fe Counties on vaccines.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health, all but two Santa Fe County zip codes had vaccination rates of around 70 percent as of August 25. The zip codes with lower vaccination rates were 87015 and 87056, which were the parishes of Edgewood and Stanley, respectively.
In the zip code 87015 58 percent of the people were vaccinated, while in 87056 37 percent were fully vaccinated, the lowest vaccination rate in the district.
Edgewood has about 6,000 residents while Stanley has just under 1,000 residents.
The rates are outliers compared to the rest of Santa Fe County, where nearly 80 percent of residents over 12 are fully vaccinated. Nationwide, 69.5 percent of residents were vaccinated on Friday.
Martin Vigil, emergency coordinator for Santa Fe County, said the lower than hoped vaccination rates in Edgewood and Stanley have led to new vaccination efforts in those areas.
“The reason we targeted Stanley and Edgewood is obviously because of the numbers down there,” Vigil said. “Even one [vaccination] in our team is very successful. “
Vigil said the county has been running a mobile vaccination unit since vaccines were readily available for targeted clinics, first in partnership with the Albertsons grocery chain and then with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the past three months.
Vaccinations at clinics are starting to ramp up again, and the county plans to return to Edgewood and Stanley for more vaccination events sometime this month, Vigil said.
Vigil said he doesn’t think the rates are tied to vaccination access issues. The county has maintained 37 such clinics since the pandemic began, including 27 since June when COVID-19 rates began to rise again.
As of August 25, the zip codes that included Cerrillos in the southern area of the county and Santa Cruz in the north, which have a population comparable to Stanley, had 71 percent and nearly 100 percent vaccination rates, respectively.
“I think it’s just a population that chose not to get vaccinated,” Vigil said.
Milz Holmstrup largely agreed with Vigil. She said access issues and language barriers could affect vaccination rates as well as a general concern about vaccination.
“I’ll be very open and say that I really think now, for better or for worse, we depend on people who have made up their minds, and it is very difficult to get them to change their mind,” said Milz Holmstrup. “I know our vendors are still getting questions [from] Patient. There are still a few holdouts; that is very divisive. That divided the nation. “
At a recent press conference with some of the largest hospitals in the state, health care providers pleaded with New Mexicans to get the vaccine. And President Joe Biden has announced a vaccination mandate for federal employees, healthcare workers, and those in companies with more than 100 employees.
Lealia Nelson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, wrote in an email that the department intends to work more closely with community-based organizations to provide outreach in smaller, rural communities.
It is similar to an approach used by Alfredo Montoya, the emergency management coordinator for Rio Arriba County, whose county also deals with smaller, often rural, areas of unvaccinated people.
Rio Arriba County has seen a decline in participation in its vaccination campaigns in recent months, Montoya said.
While Rio Arriba County’s vaccination rate is nearly the same as Santa Fe County’s of about 80 percent, Montoya hopes health professionals will target some remaining problem areas. He said these efforts are likely to proceed at a steady pace.
In Española, the largest parish in Rio Arriba County, vaccination rates rose from 41 percent to 59 percent from May 18 to August 25, according to data highlighting zip codes 87532 and 87533. Postal codes, which include some of the county’s smaller, more rural parishes, have seen vaccination rates only increase from about 35 percent, or 40 percent, to about 55 percent over the same period.
Still, those rates are better than zip code 87537, where only 20 percent of nearly 3,000 people are fully vaccinated, compared to just 13 percent on May 18. The area 87537 includes the municipality of Hernández.
Montoya said the need for more booster vaccinations could put a strain on targeted vaccination efforts for those wanting their first vaccination.
“It will [a] Juggling to make sure we keep focusing on the people who are still getting their first shot, ”he said.
Montoya begged residents to get the vaccine.
“I think science is helping people get vaccinated,” he said. “No, it doesn’t prevent COVID 100 percent, but I think we have to focus on keeping things at a manageable level.”
One local parish that has certainly responded in large numbers is Santa Fe, where 75 percent of residents over 12 years of age are vaccinated through the city’s five zip codes.
Postal codes 87507 and 87508, which mainly include residents of the south side of Santa Fe, have the two lowest vaccination rates in the city, 68.8 percent and 72 percent on Aug 25, respectively.
Kyra Ochoa, director of the city’s community health and safety department, said she expected rates to spike as more employees join the city’s mandate to get regular evidence of a COVID-19 negative test or vaccination record, as well as an urge for more school-age children vaccinated.
Ochoa said Santa Claus “should be proud” that there wasn’t much difference in vaccination rates across town.
Since the vaccine rollout began, city officials have focused on helping residents who may have access issues, particularly on the south side.
La Familia was an important partner in this strategy. About 55 percent of the center’s patients, about 10,000 out of 16,000 patients, live in zip code 87507. Milz Holmstrup said 93 percent of these people were fully vaccinated.
Like the county, the city has also held a number of vaccination events.
“Really, the key was understanding what barriers people have and how they can do it [get the] Word in the community, ”said Ochoa. “How do we get the vaccines out in the most easily accessible way? How do we address their concerns? It is important.”
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