Undocumented Immigrants Wrongly Denied COVID Vaccines in Rite Aid Stores

Drugstore giant Rite Aid has apologized to undocumented immigrants who had been denied COVID vaccines at its Southern California stores, saying it was done by mistake.

Sebastian Araujo's parents were waitlisted for over a week for leftover COVID vaccines. The family was relieved when they received a call, and the pharmacy told them that two spots had opened.

However, Araujo's mom, Graciela, 55, was turned away after she could not provide a state-issued ID or social security number since she is an undocumented immigrant.

Graciela provided a Matrícula Consular, Mexico's consular ID but was deemed not enough, according to a KYMA News report.

A similar situation happened to a babysitter, who is also an undocumented immigrant. The Biden administration earlier said that even undocumented immigrants are allowed to get COVID vaccines regardless of immigration status.

Rite Aid spokesperson said that both undocumented immigrants had been invited back by Rite Aid to receive their COVID vaccine doses.

Rite Aid spokesperson Christopher Savarese said that those cases were isolated, which resulted from workers at the stores not following established protocols for vaccine eligibility. He added that the employees were re-briefed on the protocols.

"We've administered over 1.2 million vaccines and have had two of these complaints," Savarese said on Sunday as ABC News reported.

"In such an unprecedented rollout, there are going to be mistakes and there will be always areas for providers to improve -- we're seeking out those opportunities every day," read the Rite Aid statement released by officials.

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Undocumented Immigrants Vaccination

Dr. Ranit Mishori, a senior medical adviser for Physicians for Human Rights, said he is very concerned as non-citizens who live in the U.S. should also be inoculated to achieve herd immunity.

Mishori added that many undocumented immigrants have already been disproportionately affected by the pandemic since many of them are frontline essential workers, making them exposed to the virus.

Since December last year, immigration activists and lawmakers are rallying to make sure that the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.'s food production and service industry sectors would not be left out on the vaccination program.

According to a USA Today report, experts earlier said it is unlikely that health officials would discriminate against undocumented immigrants. There were concerns that immigrants might be unwilling to come forward and get their vaccines after years of restrictive policies from the Trump administration.

One immigrant, Beatriz Gutierrez, said they don't want to be vaccinated if it is going to cause them problems, such as deportation. If not for that possible scenario, she said she is willing to get a vaccine.

Last month, President Joe Biden said that undocumented immigrants in the U.S. should be able to get the COVID vaccine without the fear of being singled out by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"They should... not be arrested for showing for being able to get a vaccination," Biden said as National Review reported.

The Department of Homeland Security earlier announced that ICE would not conduct enforcement activities at or near vaccination sites.

The DHS said it is a moral and public health imperative to ensure that all people in the U.S. should be able to get a vaccine.

The Biden administration has been focusing on distributing the vaccine to underserved communities and even undocumented immigrants.

READ MORE: Biden Says U.S. in Talks With Other Countries for COVID Vaccine Supply

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