CBP Denied Flu Vaccine To Migrants, Three Kids Have Died, Few Reporting On It Anymore

Kids kept in our migrant concentration camps are still dying, but I guess we're at the stage where we've accepted that to the point that few mainstream news outlets bother to report on it anymore. They're dying right now of the flu because even though the CDC recommended it to them and even though it would have been free, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol declined to provide the flu shot to detainees and predictably.

At least, I'm pretty sure three kids have died since they were denied flu shots, but I can't get to the actual Washington Post article to confirm because it's behind a FUCKING paywall.

The Centers for Disease Control warned that Border Patrol needed to start giving out flu shots. Border Patrol ignored that recommendation. Now three kids have died after coming down with the flu in Border Patrol custody. https://t.co/ckR0eRQGKL

— Hannah Dreier (@hannahdreier) November 25, 2019

But according to an ABC article, the offer and denial for the free flu vaccine happened in August.

“To us in the medical community the situation is alarming. When the CBP stated in August that they weren’t planning on vaccinating we saw this as egregious to deny basic health care access to people forced to stay in their care," said Dr. Bonnie Arzuaga, a Boston-based pediatrician and one of the founders of Doctors for Camp Closure.

The organization is a volunteer group of 2,000 U.S. based physicians who support the closing of the Customs and Border camps because of public health concerns. The organization volunteered to provide free influenza vaccines to those detained but the government never responded. 

“We got no response, not even an acknowledgement of the letter," said Arzuaga.

That's probably because the cruelty is the point.

The CBP tried to claim that it would be tOo HaRd to give all the migrants they're holding the flu shot when they're only supposed to hold people for up to 72 hours, but we all know that many migrants get held for longer, sometimes for weeks or months without even seeing a judge. Also, I could go to either QFC or Safeway right now and get a flu shot on demand after signing a couple of easy forms. I've done it before and it took like 10 minutes.

Maybe you could divert some of that money you put into catching and imprisoning the migrants that you don't even have enough room for into more medical staff who could easily go around to these people who spend most of their day sitting in cells doing nothing.

The ABC article doesn't mention any kids dying but this is how most people die in overcrowded concentration camps that don't provide anything close to adequate medical care for human beings. Anne Frank died of typhoid. Latine kids from Central America die of the flu.