Tarrant County Spanish speakers are receiving COVID-19 vaccine appointments in English

It’s been four months since Tarrant County began its COVID-19 vaccine rollout and Spanish-speaking residents are still receiving appointment correspondence in English.

The Tarrant County commissioners and Vinny Taneja, the public health director, weren’t aware of the issue until Dora Tovar, an Arlington City Council candidate, told them about it during their meeting on Tuesday.

Tovar said she called the county’s COVID-19 hotline April 22 to reschedule her second dose. She was happy when she found that Spanish-speaking people worked at the call center as the county has a large Spanish-speaking community.

But she was in disbelief when her appointment details and confirmation were sent in English.

“Why are we not good enough or important enough?” Tovar said. “Do we have to show up to commissioner’s court every week?”

Tovar said she is lucky enough to speak both English and Spanish, but she wondered how many Spanish-speaking only residents are either missing appointments because of receiving correspondence in English or are struggling to get someone to translate.

Tarrant County offers registration online in Spanish and through its COVID-19 hotline at 817-248-6299. But when people register in Spanish through the phone, they get their confirmation in English just like Tovar.

Also, if someone registers online in Spanish, they’ll receive correspondence back in English.

Tovar wanted a report from the commissioners court on how many people have been affected. The commissioners did not say if such a report would happen.

When Tovar went to get her second shot at the Hurst Conference Center she translated for 12 people and drove one person home to Grapevine. She called the experience a “debacle” for Spanish speakers.

“Basically, I became the representative for the county,” she said.

While Tovar was happy to help, she thinks the county must do a better job at catering to the needs of Spanish speakers.

County Judge Glen Whitley said the county will work on making sure non-English speakers get the correspondence in the correct language.

“I’m glad that she made us aware of that,” Whitley said. “And I think we’ve now got a challenge ahead of us to hopefully in the next week be able to make it better.”