Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams believes everyone should have equal access to the COIVD-19 vaccine, including undocumented immigrants.
The host of CBS’s “Face the Nation” Margaret Brennan noted on Sunday there has been concern surrounding undocumented residents and their access to the vaccine.
She asked Adams if governors are the ones who should make the call on whether to vaccinate those who are not legal citizens.
“I want everyone to hear me. No one in this country should be denied a vaccine because of their documentation status because it’s not ethically right to deny those individuals,” Adams said.
Brennan pressed Adams on if it is up to the governors to make undocumented residents comfortable enough to “come out of the shadows” and get the vaccine.
“I want to reassure people that your information when collected to get your second shot, if you get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, will not be used in any way, shape or form, to harm you legally,” Adams said.
Watch his remarks below:
"No one in this country should be denied a vaccine because of their documentation status, because it's not ethically right to deny those individuals," @Surgeon_General tells @margbrennan amid questions over vaccinating undocumented immigrants pic.twitter.com/xYLeYiiZqK
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 20, 2020
He added, “That is something that I have been assured of and we tell people that all the time when they need to come in for emergency care or public health care. So we’re going to work with states and local officials and trusted organizations to make sure everyone gets the information they need and feels safe coming in to get vaccinated.”
Adams recently weighed in on the unwillingness by some Americans to receive the vaccine, as IJR previously reported.
During a “Good Morning America” interview in November, Adams stressed the vaccine was “developed safely.”
He went on to explain, “We have not cut any safety corners.”
Adams was joined on Friday by vice president Mike Pence and his wife, Second Lady Karen Pence, to get the vaccine publicly, as IJR previously reported.
