A mother in the San Fernando Valley celebrated she was vaccinated against COVID-19 days after the woman, who is undocumented, was removed from a Rite Aid in Mission Hills when she presented her foreign consular ID as identification.
His son, Sebastian Araujo, turned to social media, drawing the attention of Eyewitness News and government leaders such as California District Representative Tony Cardenas, who said no legal status is required to be vaccinated in the United States. country.
“This is not a requirement at the federal, state or local level, and this organization has been told very clearly that it was wrong and they immediately apologized for doing so, but it left the woman very bewildered,” the representative said. Cardenas.
Sebastian’s mother is not alone.
A few days after the release of the Eyewitness News report on the Mission Hills incident, another undocumented woman, this time in South Orange County, was denied COVID-19 vaccination twice on Thursday, in a Rite Aid to Laguna Niguel.
He didn’t want to go out on camera, but he offers daycare for the Rager family, who were heartbroken by the humiliation he suffered. Her five-year-old nanny was left in tears.
The father of the family, Kevin Rager, gave Eyewitness News an interview via Zoom.
San Fernando Valley family raising awareness after undocumented mother is denied COVID vaccine
“This kind of thing should never happen to an individual no matter where they come from. I come from an immigrant family. I married an immigrant and things like this should not happen in our day, especially with the guidelines that exist. now, “Rager said.
Rager provided his employee with a letter to check that he was watching his children, but this combined with an out-of-state identification was not enough.
The pharmacist insisted on a social security card, saying the woman’s priority was for U.S. citizens and later repeated this inaccurate information over the phone to the Ragers.
When he investigated the guidelines, Rager was surprised to find the Eyewitness News report online of a similar incident just days before at 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 not tolerated. These questions should not be asked of any individual and our country should be vaccinated against so I don’t see why anyone should be denied when they really want to get vaccinated, ”Rager said.
In both cases, Rite Aid representatives contacted the parties involved to apologize.
Sebastian’s mother received her shot at a different Rite Aid than the one that diverted her.
There were clear changes to the company’s website.
When the driver’s license and social security card were once classified as acceptable forms of identification issued by the government, no social security card is now mentioned and a note was added stating, “No they will remove you if you do not have a photo ID or insurance “.
In an email and phone call, a Rite Aid spokesman admitted mistakes were made and said after the incident in Mission Hills, staff were retrained, but on Friday it was still investigating why it happened again in Orange County.
Rite Aid rescheduled a vaccination appointment for the family’s daycare provider later that week.
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