As cool winter temperatures sent chills down the spines of many and a brisk breeze blew throughout Denver Friday morning, the Latinx community of Denver was excited.

Around a dozen cars began lining up along South Perry Street and West Byers Place around 8 a.m. even though the first appointments for the three-day mass vaccination event weren’t scheduled until an hour later.

Several hours later, around 300 elderly Latinx and west Denver community members had received the COVID-19 vaccine. One of them was 90-year-old Celina Redding. 

“To finally get the vaccine is a great thing,” Redding said. “I’m all for vaccinations and truly can’t believe I finally got mine.”

Redding said she’s been following the COVID-19 safety guidelines religiously and is now looking forward to the day she can have lunch with her grandson again.

“I miss those times very much,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to see each other again real soon.”

By the time the program is completed on Sunday at 1 p.m., more than 1,000 people will be vaccinated during the event at St. Cajetan Church in west Denver.

Around 30 volunteers from National Jewish Health (NJH), The University of Colorado College of Nursing, and even some high schoolers came to help  keep the traffic flowing.

Dr. Michael Salem, the president and CEO of NJH, said the average wait time including a 15 minute waiting period after checking in, was just over 20 minutes on Friday. 

Salem was administering the vaccine himself, and saw first-hand the reactions people had.

“There’s been a lot of joy here this morning,” Salem said. “People are just so happy to be getting vaccinated.”

The idea for the event started when a group of five Latina elected officials were talking in a group-chat about the disparities being seen throughout their communities.

State Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez proposed the idea to her fellow co-organizers – State Sen. Julie Gonzales, Denver City Council members Jaime Torres and Amanda Sandoval and Treasurer of the Denver Public Schools Angela Cobián – and got the ball rolling several weeks ago. 

“We asked each other ‘why isn’t our community getting vaccinated?’ and it led us down this path and we thought about St. Cajetan and knew it’d be great for our community,” said Gonzales-Gutierrez. 

Hispanic people account for 29.3% of Denver’s population, but less than 9% have received the vaccine, according to data from Denver Public Health.

And to see community members and elders receiving their vaccination brought tears to Gonzales-Gutierrez’s eyes.

“It’s very emotional but also very rewarding to see the people coming that have been waiting a long time to get these shots,” said Gonzales-Gutierrez. 

After receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Fransisco Torres, said he will continue following guidelines for the immediate future.

“I’m going to keep following the restrictions like social distancing, wearing a mask and avoiding large crowds for awhile,” Torres said. 

Even though the number receiving the vaccination this weekend won’t eliminate the disparity in numbers, Gonzales-Gutierrez said, it’s a start in the right direction.

“Today is just absolutely beautiful and it gives me hope that we can hold other events like this in the near future,” Gonzales-Gutierrez said.