The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is asking Health and Human Services (HHS) Sec. Xavier Becerra and White House Coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients for urgent additional action addressing inequities facing Latino and immigrant communities amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, specifically when it comes to access to the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Members write in their letter of recommendations that as both communities have been harshly impacted by the pandemic, they’re also facing immense difficulties in accessing life-saving doses. “The disproportionate and unjust burden of the coronavirus pandemic on Hispanics demonstrates the need for the Biden-Harris Administration to work to help eliminate these inequities and ensure the well-being of Hispanic and immigrant communities,” they write.

“There are unique barriers that Hispanic and immigrant communities face regarding vaccination and testing, including a lack of reliable information in their languages, misinformation, and fear of deportations,” CHC members write to Becerra and Zients. “Absent adequate communication, these communities may be hesitant to access critical COVID-19 services and share personal information out of fear of potential consequences, such as the inability to adjust their immigration status due to public charge policies.”

Legislators in their letter outline more than a dozen recommendations to the Biden administration, ranging from directly funding “greater number of trusted community organizations connected to Hispanic and immigrant communities,” to increasing the number of mobile vaccination sites in rural and farmworking communities, to working to “ensure that no one is denied a vaccine because they lack identification or eligibility documentation.” 

While the CDC has issued guidelines for partner pharmacies distributing the vaccine that “assures that no one will be turned away for lack of specific identification documents,” like a government-issued ID or driver’s license, undocumented immigrants have been turned away for this exact reason. In March, a Rite Aid location in southern California made headlines for turning away an undocumented mother who had an appointment to get her dose. Amid pushback on social media, the chain contacted her family to reschedule her appointment.

Tina Vasquez reported for Prism that some localities have asked for, but not required, a social security number, which undocumented people lack. The CHC said HHS should “work with vaccine providers to limit the collection of personal data, ensure that any data that needs to be collected is protected, and prohibit data collection on immigration status or place of birth to address vaccine hesitancy.”

Relatedly, the recommendations said the “CDC should develop and disseminate best practices for vaccination sites in areas with large immigrant populations.” Members also called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which operates under HHS, to “have agency-wide plans to vaccinate people in their custody and children in their care and adhere to basic humanitarian standards that go beyond relying on local community health departments for vaccine provisions.”

Recall that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the previous administration ignored CDC recommendations urging border officials give detained people flu shots, even after the horrific and tragic flu-related deaths of children in the agency’s custody. A report from the Government Accountability Office later found that CBP violated law by spending humanitarian funds designated by Congress for the care of detained people instead on its own employee vaccine program. The Biden administration can, and should, do better to protect vulnerable communities.

“It is critical that the Biden-Harris administration do everything in its power to ensure immigrant and Hispanic communities can access COVID-19 vaccines,” legislators said in the letter. “The CHC stands ready to assist the task force in these efforts.” Read the full recommendations from the Hispanic Caucus to HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra and White House Coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients here.