One cartoonist is making cartoons to stop COVID-19 misinformation

One local artist has created a series of cartoons about COVID-19. His cartoons are aimed at stopping misinformation about the virus and encourage the Latino/Hispanic population to get vaccinated. It’s part of the larger COVID-19 Latino Project started by ASU Transborder Professor, Gilberto Lopez. Artist Lalo Alcaraz joined Horizonte’s Jose Cardénas to talk about his work.

When finding inspiration and working with cartoons, Alcaraz said he almost always uses his regular cartoon feed which includes pop figures from Mexico, Chicano culture, US-Latino culture, and more. “In this case, I was trying to fulfill the mission of overcoming vaccine hesitancy and promoting social distancing,” he added.

Alcaraz’s work contains information that people might have not known previously before the pandemic. His cartoons feature signs about social distancing, and receiving the vaccine. One of his cartoons mentions things that are more dangerous than vaccines, such as: smoking, alcohol, driving, not exercising, and no vaccines. “We have the responsibility of giving medically accurate information, and we don’t want to mislead people,” Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz mentioned that he felt honored and strong after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.