Advocates warn that San Diego County is keeping undocumented immigrants from getting vaccinated because of a photo ID requirement. Our partner inewsource has details.
On a rainy Saturday morning in March, volunteers with Universidad Popular huddle under a tent outside a vaccine clinic in San Marcos servingThey’re part of a network of community groups partnering with the state health department to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations. Trusted community groups likeBut at vaccine clinics in San Marcos and Escondido, advocates with Universidad Popular said San Diego County has made that goal more difficult –– by requiring a photo ID to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
“They don't want to show up and be asked to present it and then be in a situation where they’re just afraid that information might be shared with immigration or other officials.” About 60% of the people over the age of 5 in that tract are fully vaccinated as of mid-April. In another neighboring tract, the vaccination rate is 52%.
Michael Workman, spokesperson for San Diego County, said the policy is necessary to verify a person’s identity. But at least one other county in California, Los Angeles County, states online that no photo ID is required at its public health vaccine clinics. In January, a clinic staffer emailed county health officials saying, “we have had some people saying they are seeing ads that say they do not need to have identification for the covid vaccine and come with no identification.” A supervisor responded, confirming that the county’s policy is to “verify identity” and that “broad” forms of identification are acceptable.“[Staff] let her know she needed an ID and she became upset and asked to speak to someone else,” the nurse said.
There were a few cases in which someone at the consulate vaccine clinic needed help obtaining an ID to receive the vaccine, but overall the ID requirement did not present a major obstacle, González Gutiérrez said.
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