COVID Vaccine Has No "Public Charge" Consequences for Immigrants | The State
“There are no consequences of public charge or of another type for immigrants due to having access to the vaccine against the virus of COVID-19 ″. It was explained yesterday by Max Hadler, director of Public Health for the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC).
The myths and misinformation that often come through social media or unverified comments can have devastating consequences in a pandemic and crisis like the current one. That is why the NYIC on Friday wanted to dissipate some of them on issues such as the vaccination campaign and the lines of aid for the stabilization of the economy.
Hadler also clarified, in a zoom conference, that the personal information that has to be collected within a vaccination campaign that requires two injections with current providers, “will not be shared outside the administrative process of vaccination.” In this way, the doubts of those who fear that their data will reach the authorities for reasons of immigration status, for example, are dispelled.
Because everyone, regardless of status, health insurance or ability to pay is eligible for the vaccine, they remember from NYIC. This antidote to COVID, a disease that has already affected two million people around the world – a quarter of them in the US – has no cost to whoever receives it.
This organization focused on helping immigrants is one of the many that is calling for an acceleration of the vaccination process that has recently been opened to those over 65 in New York.
From this organization it is transmitted that confidence must be had in the safety of the vaccine and it is trusted that with the Joe Biden Administration, which takes office on Wednesday, there will be a more coherent vaccination strategy at the federal level that allows a better organization to the states.
In any case, NYIC asks that they make appointments through the web or the telephone that has been made available to residents in the city for it and do not go, as happened on Thursday night, to get the vaccine without knowing if it was available to the public or not.
Vaccination appointments
- On the website and with access to the Spanish language you can verify the place where the vaccines are given in each area. https://vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/
- Call 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692) to determine if you are eligible for priority and to set up an appointment for the vaccine. If you press 2 the message is in Spanish.
Economic relief
The other relief during the pandemic is financial. In late December, Congress approved a $ 900 billion financial aid package, which President Donald Trump reluctantly signed, and which is beginning to reach families, including those with mixed immigration status.
Checks of a maximum of $ 600 per taxpayer and $ 600 per dependent under 17 years of age are being issued by the state in addition to improvements in unemployment insurance and other benefits.
Gurpreet Singh, Asset Building manager of the Chhaya organization, an organization that serves immigrants from Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, recalled that those who have green cards, TPS or DACA are eligible for these payments.
Those who file their taxes with the ITIN are not only eligible for these direct aid, or the “check”, but this time not only does it not disqualify a couple who does it with Social Security but it also allows this person to claim in their Tax return the previous payment of $ 1,200 to which mixed status families were excluded.
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