Visual Artists Collaborate With City to Increase Awareness of the Importance of Covid-19 Vaccine

May 14, 2021 - San Antonio

By Jade Esteban Estrada, Staff Writer | San Antonio Sentinel

The City of San Antonio continues to share educational information with residents to increase awareness about the importance of getting vaccinated to help decrease the spread of Covid-19. As Metro Health pop-up clinics continue to make vaccines more accessible to the community, the City collaborated with local San Antonio artists to launch phase two of its award-winning Covid-19 prevention campaign entitled What Will It Take (WWIT). 

This campaign continues to remind residents to help to slow the spread of Covid-19 by wearing masks, social distancing and ultimately getting vaccinated as soon as they are able. 

“We are excited to see this campaign come to life,” said the newly re-elected Ron Nirenberg. “We hope that these murals serve as a reminder to our community to stay safe and to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Many of these murals feature our own neighbors and once again demonstrate how much our community cares for one another.” 

He is encouraging residents to tour the murals as they are installed. 

The second phase of the WWIT campaign features a partnership with the arts organization S.M.A.R.T. (Supporting Multiple Arts Resources Together), led by Andy and Yvette Benavides. All murals were created by locals artists including Alex Rubio in District 5, Kaldric Dow in District 2, Jerry Garcia in District 4, Ana Hernandez in District 3 and Kim Bishop in District 7 to share messages of encouragement to get vaccinated and to also bring life to the walls of small businesses in the heart of neighborhoods. This campaign also includes on-the-ground outreach efforts and a Paletas in the Park program that brings vaccine information and a refreshing treat to families in areas of the city that have been most impacted by the pandemic. 

“Our community is resilient and will continue to work on keeping each other safe,” said outgoing District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales. “We are thankful for the educational information and resources shared by the City to keep our residents healthy and provide them access to vaccines and other health resources. These murals are a wonderful addition to our district and [we are] thankful for the local artists who worked on the project.” 

Metro Health has created an interactive map of pop-up vaccine clinic events in Bexar County. This map allows residents to filter information by vaccine manufacturer, date, and location. The Health Department will continue to work with local community agencies to host these no-cost Covid-19 pop-up vaccine clinics using health and equity data to coordinate events. 

“Having a higher quality of vaccines allocated to Metro Health has allowed the City to create pop-up vaccine events in neighborhoods that have been impacted the most by Covid-19,” said City Manager Erik Walsh. “We will continue to prioritize our vulnerable populations and provide them as much access as possible to vaccines with the help of our community health workers. We are proud of how well our vaccination rates are doing locally and hope to continue to increase the amount of people vaccinated by this summer.” 

No registration is needed to attend these clinics. For more information, residents may call 311 or email covid-19@sanantonio.gov. 

Jade Esteban Estrada is a staff writer for the San Antonio Sentinel, where he covers public health and other citywide issues. jade@sasentinel.com | Twitter: @getjaded