Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images
An Orange County parent spoke out in defense of his child care provider after the undocumented woman began to cry at a Rite Aid Thursday when she was denied the COVID vaccine – 19 twice in one day, because he did not have a Social Security card, reported ABC 7 .
A mother from the Valley of San Fernando celebrated that she was already vaccinated against COVID – 19 days later that the woman, who is undocumented, was rejected at a Rite Aid in Mission Hills when she presented her foreign consular ID as identification.
His son, Sebastián Araujo, took to social media and caught the attention of Eyewitness News and government leaders such as the district representative 29 from California, Tony Cárdenas , who said that legal status is not required in the pa ís to be vaccinated.
“That is not a requirement at all at the federal, state or local level and that organization has been told very clearly that this was wrong and they immediately apologized for doing it, but it left the woman very distraught, “said Cárdenas.
Sebastian’s mother is not alone.
There is a new case in which Rite Aid rejected an undocumented woman in the same Orange County.
Just days after the Eyewitness News report on the Mission Hills incident aired on Monday, another undocumented woman, this time in South Orange County, was denied the COVID vaccine- 19 twice on Thursday, at a Rite Aid in Laguna Niguel.
She did not want to go on camera, but provides childcare to the Rager family, who were heartbroken by the humiliation she suffered. His nanny for five years was crying.
The father of the family, Kevin Rager, gave an interview to Eyewitness News via Zoom. “This kind of thing should never happen to an individual, regardless of their place of origin. I come from an immigrant family. I married an immigrant and things like this just shouldn’t happen in our day, especially with the guidelines that exist now, ”Rager said.
Rager handed over to his employee a letter verifying that he was caring for his children, but that combined with an out-of-state ID was not enough at Rite Aid.
The pharmacist He insisted on a social security card, and told the woman that the priority is for U.S. citizens and then repeated this inaccurate information over the phone to the Ragers.
When researching the guidelines, Rager was surprised to find the Eyewitness News report of a similar incident online a few days earlier at a Rite Aid in Mission Hills.
“I just want the government or companies to send information to their employees saying that this kind of behavior, you know, is just not tolerated. These questions should not be asked of anyone and our entire country should be vaccinated, so I don’t see why someone should be denied when they really want to get a vaccine, ”Rager said.
What Rite Aid said
In both cases, Rite Aid representatives contacted the parties involved to apologize.
There were clear changes on the company’s website. Where once a driver’s license and a social security card were listed as acceptable forms of government-issued identification, now a social security card is not mentioned and a note has been added that reads: “You will not be turned away if you do not have one. Photo ID or health insurance. ”
In emails and over the phone, a Rite Aid spokesperson admitted mistakes were made and said after the incident in Mission Hills, the staff was retrained, but why it happened again at Laguna Niguel was still under investigation.
Rite Aid rescheduled a vaccination appointment for the child care provider family later that week.