Gina Ramirez learned she was pregnant in the fall of 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Unable to practice social distancing due to her job, she came down with the virus when she was just two months pregnant. Like many Latinos in her neighborhood of Brighton Park in southwest Chicago, she had to navigate the anxiety and insecurity of not knowing how her job would support her while sick or pregnant, or how the virus would impact her pregnancy. In this episode, reporter Francesca Mathewes revisits the crucial months that Latinos learned about the Covid-19 vaccine through the lens of Gina and her family. Local activists in Chicago shed light on the real fears and obstacles that fueled vaccine hesitancy, and illustrate how their focus on community health safeguarded the health and wellness of neighborhood residents and families like Gina’s.

For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays.

100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.