.WHCommsDir defended the decision by DHSgov to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for migrants through the Border Patrol as the uninsured lose access to free tests and treatment amid a funding shortfall.
The administration's efforts to vaccinate migrants"in our care and custody has been ongoing for months," according to White House communications director Kate Bedingfield. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been offering COVID-19 shots to migrants since the summer of 2021, she told reporters during her first White House press briefing Tuesday.
"We know that vaccinating people is the best way to protect from the virus and to protect against the spread of the virus," she said. Until now, migrants who illegally cross the border and are taken into custody by the Border Patrol are not vaccinated or tested before being released. Oftentimes, the Border Patrol releases migrants from its custody to a local nonprofit organization that will then administer COVID-19 tests.
Despite the lack of testing and vaccines, the Biden administration has been aware for months that people coming over the border have the virus. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said upward of 20% of those released had the omicron variant of the virus.
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