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EL PASO, Texas – To be in Group 1B for the vaccination process, you must be 65 years of age or older or have a chronic medical condition.
Many El Paso residents have told ABC-7 that the city’s health department does not verify the latter. It turns out you are right.
The city of El Paso is * not * checking whether people who want to be vaccinated actually have chronic health problems.
Why not? Public health department director Angela Mora said it would cause problems:
“Right now, for people with chronic illness, we’re not asking for proof of chronic illness at this time. The state is considering people who would have difficulty contacting or seeing a health care provider to provide a letter stating that they have x or y medical condition. We know we want to make sure we don’t put barriers on people who want to get vaccinated with chronic illnesses.
That’s the system right now, but that could change. Mora warned what would happen if people abused it:
“So for now we’re using the honor system. If you tell us you have a chronic illness, you can take whatever you have so that we can verify that you have it. But if you don’t don’t have it, we’ll vaccinate you anyway. We are using this for now. If we start to determine that community members are abusing this honor system, then we will require proof of chronic illness. “
The public health director says the city is checking to see if people are 65 or older; she says you will be asked for identification such as a driver’s license or passport.
And healthcare workers are asked to provide work identification or a pay stub showing where they work.
But of course, if the city has to change its policy, it wouldn’t impact anyone who has played the system before – just potential future violators.
And ABC-7 isn’t encouraging that in any way – but it’s important to get those questions answered and be transparent with El Pasoans.
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