The Bush Administration has indicated it wants doctors, clinics, and hospitals to provide flu immunizations to illegal immigrants. In an interview with KFOX-TV, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt was asked if the federal government has any safeguards to prevent illegal immigrants from catching the flu. Leavitt responded by saying doctors should give flu shots to "every person."
Secretary Leavitt said, "Most health departments in the country will provide a vaccination for anyone. Our purpose is to vaccinate every person who wants a flu vaccine – we're hoping to increase the numbers of those who want to have the flu vaccination."
Leavitt's public statement has drawn harsh reaction today from critics of the Administration's immigration policy.
"On its face, it's going to strike a majority of Americans as an outrage, because this is a population that's here without the sanctioning of the U.S. government," said John Keeley, spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.
"It's now Bush Administration policy, and a directive to healthcare providers, to administer flu shots (to illegal immigrants)."
Leavitt said the U.S. government is also asking the Mexican government to step up its efforts to immunize Mexican citizens who might cross the border.
"We're working with our neighbors across the border," Leavitt said, "to do the same thing that we're doing."
Each year, 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. population is infected with influenza. It's estimated 36,000 die from it each year. Leavitt said Americans are better protected from flu when others around them are immunized as well.
More than 92 million doses of flu vaccine have already been distributed. Unlike previous years, when younger patients were asked to wait for immunizations until older, more susceptible people had received theirs, flu shots are in large supply.
"This year, we have enough flu vaccine. This year, we want to have everyone who is interested or willing – and we hope that's everyone – to get a vaccination," Leavitt said.
When asked about Secretary Leavitt's suggestion that illegal immigrants should receive flu shots, Holly Babin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said, "It's in the best interest of border communities and should be part of the planning. Public health knows no borders, though there's no law or mandate that doctors give these shots (to illegal immigrants)."
