Officials Seek to Vaccinate Illegals For Swine Flu | The ...

WASHINGTON – With swine flu vaccinations set to begin in October, public health officials are mobilizing to ensure that the nation’s estimated 11 million-plus illegal immigrants are vaccinated to protect themselves and the public.

Unlike the debate over whether illegal immigrants should get federal health care, there is little dispute they should be included in the nation’s voluntary vaccination program.

“We believe it’s important that all people be vaccinated regardless of immigration status if there’s a pressing public health concern,” said Jon Feere, legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, which opposes taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants and wants to reduce immigration.

Leaving 10 million to 12 million immigrants unvaccinated against swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus, would increase the health risk to everyone and make it much harder to control an epidemic, said Dr. Kevin Fiscella, associate professor of family medicine and preventive medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York.

“We’re all in this together,” he said.

The swine flu virus is expected to hit children, teens and young adults especially hard – a vulnerability that’s compounded by the fact that the immigrant population tends to be younger overall than the general population, health officials say.

But experts say state and local governments will have to overcome major barriers to persuade illegal immigrants to trust public health departments enough to come forward and get themselves and their children vaccinated.

“For an undocumented immigrant who lives in daily fear of being deported, contact with any quasi-governmental agency, even a public health department, induces anxiety,” Fiscella said. “People worry, ‘Are they going to ask me for my Social Security number?’”

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