It was her first day of volunteering at the COVID-19 vaccination site when Elizabeth Wilbanks was instructed by Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health supervisors to refuse a 92-year-old undocumented woman because she was unable to present a photo ID. . The woman was advised to return with a library card or other form of identification to prove her eligibility as a county resident aged 75 or older.
“It broke my heart,” said Wilbanks, professor of biology at UCSB. “We should have been able to do better. We know that voter photo identification laws discriminate between the Black, Indigenous, Latinx and Chicanx communities with what the courts call ‘surgical precision’. Why allow such practices to advance when it is a matter of life and death? “
The meeting took place on February 3 in Santa Maria, said Wilbanks, whose role was to greet residents and ask them some preliminary questions as they prepared for the photos. It was the end of a slow day and there were many extra vaccines available, she said.
The elderly woman remained in her car while her granddaughter talked to the Public Health team, explaining that her grandmother had only had a Mexican identity card, which was stolen, along with her purse, just before the pandemic began. She had lost family and friends to the virus, said her granddaughter, and was so afraid of becoming ill that she had not left her home since March.
After reading the Public Health website, she continued, the pair decided not to make an appointment to avoid accepting one of the limited vacancies from someone with the proper documentation. They hoped the county was still willing to help them.
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Jackie Ruiz, a spokesman for the Department of Public Health, said the team at the site “worked with the individual to discuss whether there were utility bills, medical insurance cards, as well as library cards that list a county’s address. In addition, our team recommended a medical billing statement that would have the individual’s name and a county address. “As a general rule, Ruiz said,” We are committed to ensuring that documentation is not a barrier to vaccination. “
But unfortunately that was what happened that day, said Wilbanks, when the request was sent to the ranks of Public Health and finally denied. “We did nothing to remove the barrier,” he lamented. “What worries me is that we gave this woman the burden of doing something more. Granted, many vaccines will now be routed through hospitals – like Marian, Cottage, Sansum – which may have different policies, but Public Health sets the tone. “
The woman’s granddaughter was brave enough to present her case in person, Wilbanks continued. What about all the other undocumented residents who can read the Public Health website and decide not to even try?
Wilbanks recognized the heroic work done daily at public vaccination sites across the county. “Generally, everyone is doing their best to get gunshots,” she said. But she worries whether the county’s rigid and quick photo identification rule may be preventing vulnerable populations from receiving their vaccines. “Even asking for identity is intimidating and disheartening,” she said. “This is something like a community to talk about.”
Ruiz said he was unaware of other such incidents. “Our team works very carefully to ensure that we can get eligible people with vaccinated appointments,” she said. “We are open to being flexible and responsive to help ensure that our vulnerable members of the community are vaccinated.”
At a meeting at the virtual city hall organized by the Department of Public Health last week, representatives from CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy) and MICOP (Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project) expressed concern about similar types of roadblocks.
Dalia Garcia told the story of a mixteco resident in Santa Maria who was asked in Albertsons about the social security number and proof of insurance. “That kind of question scares our community,” said Garcia. “This does not allow any comfort or confidence in the vaccine.”
The Director of Public Health, Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, said she “would address this partner” and others to ensure that this type of thing does not happen “in the future”.
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