San Jose Earthquakes Promote Vaccinations In Santa Clara County

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The San Jose Earthquakes are helping Santa Clara County promote the COVID-19 vaccine to communities that have been lagging behind in getting the shot.

In a news briefing on Monday afternoon at PayPal Park, defender Oswaldo Alanis — who along with most of the Earthquakes roster has been vaccinated — emphasized to the Hispanic community that “the vaccine is safe.”

“That’s good for everyone because we want to be here with all the fans in the stadium supporting us,” Alanis said.

The Earthquakes have been hosting fans with limited capacity so far this season.

“For us, coming from another country that suffered different types of things and seeing how you work here and you make people safe is something that we thank a lot,” said Alanis, who is from Mexico.

Over 54 percent of the Hispanic/Latino community over the age of 12 in Santa Clara County has received at least one dose of the vaccine, below the county mark of 74 percent. Areas in East San Jose and South County lag behind the rest of the county in vaccinations, despite the county reaching high marks overall.

County officials hope that people like Alanis spreading the message of the vaccine’s safety will help.

“There are folks who are going to feel confident because they know that this athlete got vaccinated and he's saying it’s safe, and he’s healthy and he’s a soccer player,” said County Supervisor Cindy Chavez. “Part of the reason we’re asking leaders like this is that we know there are people in the community who are going to hear from him differently than they hear from (us).”

According to Chavez, the top concern of people who haven’t yet been vaccinated is that they would miss work, followed by lack of transportation and childcare commitments.

“Part of our obligation is to figure out how best we can serve these communities and making sure people aren’t so fearful about losing a job or not having food on their table,” Chavez said.

To that end, the county has continued to operate services like door-to-door vaccinations, walk-up sites and some evening clinics.

The Earthquakes will hold an event on Friday at Overfelt High School from 4:30 to 6 p.m., where people getting vaccinated will have an opportunity to meet players and win an autographed shirt.

Visit sccfreevax.org for more information on vaccination sites throughout the county this week.

For more news and information about the vaccine rollout in California, visit Patch's information hub. Also, be sure to check out How To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In California.