Give migrants flu vaccine to tackle US detention ’emergency’, doctors say
- Three child migrants died in US custody in 2018-19 flu season
- Crowded detention centers create ‘vulnerable population’
Doctors are asking officials in the US health and immigration departments to provide flu vaccines to migrants in detention, warning of an “emergency which threatens the safety of human lives, particularly of children”, in a letter made public on Tuesday.
The warning comes after three children died in the custody of US immigration due to complications from the flu in the 2018-2019 flu season – which the doctors said is nine times the rate seen in the general child population. At 21 weeks, the 2018-2019 flu season was the longest in a decade.