A San Fernando Valley mother celebrated that she was vaccinated against COVID-19 days after the woman, who has no papers, was rejected by Rite Aid in Mission Hills when she presented her foreign consular ID card as identification.
Her son, Sebastian Araujo, went on social media, drawing the attention of Eyewitness News and government leaders like California’s 29th District Representative, Tony Cardenas, who said the legal situation in the country is not required to be vaccinated.
“This is not a requirement at the federal, state or local level and this organization was told very clearly that this was wrong and they immediately apologized for doing so, but it left the woman very upset,” said Representative Cardenas.
Sebastian’s mother is not alone.
A few days after the Eyewitness News report on the Mission Hills incident aired on Monday, another undocumented woman, this time in South Orange County, was denied her COVID-19 vaccination twice on Thursday in a Rite Aid in Laguna Niguel.
She did not want to go to the camera, but provides child care for the Rager family, who were heartbroken by the humiliation she suffered. Her five-year-old nanny was left in tears.
The father of the family, Kevin Rager, gave an interview to Eyewitness News via Zoom.
San Fernando Valley family raising awareness after undocumented mother was refused COVID vaccine
“That kind of thing should never happen to an individual, regardless of where he comes from. I come from a family of immigrants. I married an immigrant and things like that shouldn’t happen today, especially with guidelines that exist now”, said Rager.
Rager provided his employee with a letter certifying that she was keeping an eye on her children, but that, combined with an identity from another state, was not enough.
The pharmacist insisted on a social security / card, telling the woman that the priority goes to American citizens and then repeated that inaccurate information over the phone to the Ragers.
When he researched the guidelines, Rager was shocked to find the Eyewitness News report of a similar incident a few days earlier at Rite Aid in Mission Hills online.
“I just want the government or companies to send information to their employees saying that this type of, you know, behavior is simply not tolerated. These questions should not be asked of any individual and our entire country needs to be vaccinated, so I don’t see why anyone should be denied when they actually want to receive a vaccine, “said Rager.
In both cases, Rite Aid representatives contacted the parties involved to apologize.
Sebastian’s mother was given a chance at a different Rite Aid than the one she was rejected on.
There were clear changes to the company’s website.
Where a driver’s license and social security card have already been listed as government-issued forms of identification, there is now no mention of a social security card and a note has been added: “You will not be refused if you do not have an ID photo or safe. “
In emails and on the phone, a spokesman for Rite Aid admitted that mistakes had been made and said that after the Mission Hills incident, the team was retrained, but the reason why it all happened again in Orange County was still under investigation on Friday.
Rite Aid rescheduled a vaccination appointment for the family’s child care provider later that week.
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