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The United States will not vaccinate migrant families in detention centers until this year's flu season, despite calls from doctors to beef up efforts to fight the infection that killed at least three children in detention centers last year.
"In general, because of the short-term nature of CBP's portfolio and the complexity of immunization programs, neither CBP nor its medical providers are administering vaccines to those in our care," said a spokesman. -Protection of Border Protection and Border Protection in an e-mail.
At least three children who were detained in detention centers after moving from Mexico to the United States have died in recent months, in part, from the flu, according to a letter to representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. And Lucille Roybal-Allard. , D-Calif., From several doctors urging Congress to investigate health conditions in the centers.
The United States had already spent almost a decade without any children dying while they were in the custody of US immigration.
"I can tell you from personal experience that child deaths are rare events," Professor Jonathan Winickoff, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard, said in an email. Winickoff, who is also director of pediatric research at the Harvard Research and Tobacco Processing Center, signed the August 1 letter with medical examiners Judy Melinek and John Spill, PhDs in Public Health, PhDs Joshua Sharfstein and Paul Spiegel.
They said that the US child mortality rate of influenza is about one in 600,000. So far, three children have died out of 200,000 people detained in detention centers along the way. the border, they wrote.
"When I learned that several children had died in custody of potentially avoidable causes, it really bothered me," Winickoff said. "The country needs urgent answers to this question so that children stop dying in detention."
Winickoff said that current detention conditions, like being placed close to other immigrants, facilitate the spread of infectious diseases from one person to the next. He added that getting the flu weakens the child's immune system and makes it more difficult to fight other diseases.
"A child may have the flu but then die from another infection," he added.
If the conditions do not improve, Dr. Julie Linton, chair of the Council of Child Health and Immigrant Families of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said that more children will be sick. children would die needlessly.
"We can take a number of steps to prevent deaths and infections – do not include children in cage-like facilities or warehouses," Linton said.
Children arrive at detention centers with a sense of resilience, says Linton, with a potentially stronger immune system. But the stress of being held against their will can result in a weakening of the immune system, she said.
This situation, coupled with unhealthy conditions, such as open toilets and "inadequate supplies" for hand washing, is fertile ground for infection, Linton said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends the annual flu vaccine to all people over 6 months of age in the United States.
The United States has seen the influx of people cross the southern border and seek help from their home country over the past year. From October to July, nearly 70,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the border, according to CBP data. During the same period, 432,838 "family units" were placed under the care of the United States.
This has led to a dangerous overcrowding of migrant settlements, where Department of Homeland Security investigators reported having long held children without access to showers or laundries. DHS inspectors reported that adults were held in standing areas for one week and that some had not taken a shower for a month, contributing to unsanitary conditions and health risks, according to a report from the office of the Inspector General of the agency released July 2 this was obtained by NBC News.
"The deaths from the flu are particularly tragic in my opinion because they are almost always preventable thanks to good public health measures," Winickoff said.
Asked about access to health care for people in detention, a spokesman for CBP said there had been a "dramatic increase" in medical staff working along the southern border. CBP currently employs about 200 medical staff, compared with 20 over one year.
"On-site medical staff are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to establish a medical diagnosis and treatment, treat infectious disease issues, and coordinate referral and follow-up from the local health system / treatment rooms. Emergency, "said the spokesperson.
Migrants who "need vaccination" are referred to local health systems where they "can receive vaccines … if they deem it necessary," she said.
Linton acknowledged that the government employed more pediatricians, but said new laws needed to be passed to improve care and conditions.
"When you're a border patrol, responsible for law enforcement and you give it responsibility for medical care, it's a complicated mission," Linton said. "It is essential to speak as a doctor."
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