San Jose

San Jose Leader Asks Hispanic Community to Get Vaccinated as Delta Variant Spreads

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A prominent San Jose leader who suffered a COVID-19 bout himself, made a public plea for the Hispanic community to get vaccinated as the virus continues to spread.

Rolando Bonilla, head of San Jose's Planning Commission, is asking Santa Clara County to make more vaccines available to the Latinx community.

From Mexican Heritage Plaza, Bonilla sent a message to the county asking to reopen a now closed vaccination side run by Gardner Clinic as COVID-19 cases are on the rise again.

"We can’t say we care about vaccinating and yet close the largest vaccination site in east San Jose," Bonilla said. "Is completely a mixed message and, in my mind, one that can be very problematic and dangerous for this community.”

Dr. Ranjani Chandramoulihe, the medical director of the Gardner Clinic, acknowledges a 10% positivity rate in east San Jose just last week, but is uncertain about reopening at the plaza. 

"I’m not sure if it’s worth the investment into opening up the site again," Dr. Chandramoulihe said, "but it is something we will definitely consider if we need to."

The county pointed out it has had hundreds of people going door to door, as well as many pop-up sites throughout east San Jose. It also pointed out the vaccination rate among Hispanics is actually better than among whites, except for the younger ages.

"The real challenge now is to get to the population who is unwilling or uninterested, or a little hesitant, and having mass vaccination sites really doesn’t do that," said county executive Jeff Smith.

No authority is ruling out the possibility of reopening the vaccination site at Mexican Heritage Plaza.

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