Vaccine Hunters Raise Issues Of Racial Profiling At Vaccine Sites

SILVER SPRING, MD — A group of volunteers that help people find and schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments said it has heard of several incidents in which immigrants and minorities have been racially profiled at vaccination sites.

"The Vaccine Hunters" — which consists of Montgomery County educators — told County Council President Tom Hucker and Vice President Gabe Albornoz on Monday that some residents were asked to provide proof of citizenship or paperwork from their employer to get a shot. None of them were White, they said.

"What's happened this week is we've had at least three incidents — I just found out one yesterday — of immigrants, undocumented or documented, who have gone to retail pharmacies and are being asked for paperwork that is not being asked of other folks, especially white folks," said Maisie Lynch, the group's co-founder.

In one instance, a pharmacist insisted that the woman needed a U.S.-issued ID and Social Security number. According to Lynch, a state delegate tried to speak with the pharmacist on the phone about the issue, but the pharmacist hung up.

Another time, two Latino clergy members brought their W-2 forms to confirm their eligibility for vaccination. They were told it wasn't enough and that they needed a letter from their employer, Lynch said.

Then on Sunday, an African American woman was asked to produce a number of documents, including her ID and a letter from her employer. Lynch said her White counterparts were not asked for the same documentation.

"They all did receive their vaccine, but it took an intervention and it took a lot of convincing on the phone," Tania Perez-Fuentes, another Vaccine Hunters member, said.

She also explained to council members that experiences like these make it harder for minorities, who are already hesitant about getting the vaccine, to go through the vaccination process.

Vaccine hesitancy among Black communities is rooted in years of medical abuse and racism.

A well-known example is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment — a federal study on African-American men in Tuskegee, Alabama, between 1932 and 1972. About 600 Black men enrolled in the experiment, but were only told they were receiving treatment for "bad blood." Of that group, nearly 400 men had syphilis.

In the 1940s, when penicillin became the standard treatment for the disease, subjects were denied care — leading to dozens of preventable deaths.

Members of minority communities, including Latinos, are also hesitant to receive the vaccine due to language and technology obstacles, according to The New York Times.

In Montgomery County, 11 percent of Black people and 9 percent of Hispanic and Latino people have received the COVID-19 vaccine. For comparison, 53 percent of White residents have received at least one dose.

"We're wanting to get people past the initial fear of getting the vaccine," Perez-Fuentes said. "And now they're fearful of what they're going to be asked and what they're going to be questioned, and (whether) their legality is going to be questioned."

Albornoz called incidents of racial profiling "unacceptable" and explained that one bad experience can deter other members of minority communities to seek the vaccine.

"If just one person has a bad experience, it has a cascading effect because they then may tell their neighbors and friends who may already be reluctant to receive the vaccine in the first place," he said. "And that compounds the problem. So this absolutely has to be a significant priority."

Albornoz said local leaders must work with pharmacies to educate them on what is and isn't required from residents.

The group is also asking vaccine providers to:

• Establish a multilingual equity hotline, so that people can report equity and accessibility issues on-site
• Have clear multilingual signage at all vaccine locations
• Update all vaccine clinics' websites to include vaccination information and documentation requirements in multiple languages

There are a number of ways Montgomery County residents can get vaccinated: through a state-run mass vaccination site; through the county's health department; or through a specific provider or pharmacy.

All county health departments and health care providers get their vaccine supply from the state. And the state gets its supply from the federal government. At this time, the federal government is giving Maryland about 12,000 doses per day.

According to Dr. Raymond Crowel, director of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, residents who show up to a county-run clinic don't need to prove their immigration or citizenship status. They just have to show some sort of identification and proof of residence in the county.

Hucker said the incidents reported by vaccine hunters show that for-profit retail providers, like pharmacies, aren't as committed to equitably vaccinated residents as the county is.

"This illustrates the risk the state takes when they provide so many of our limited vaccine doses to for-profit retail providers that don't have the same commitment to equity that our health department follows in Montgomery County," Hucker said.