QUESTION
What agencies are involved and how quickly are asylum-seeking children vaccinated?
0:27:33
·
119 sec
The Department of Health And Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) collaborates with the Department of Education and other city agencies to ensure newly arrived asylum-seeking children receive vaccinations, including the MMR vaccine, and comprehensive care as needed.
- DOHMH works closely with the Department of Education, Health and Hospitals, the Mayor's Office, DHS, and agencies involved in sheltering to provide vaccine-preventable disease expertise.
- At accommodations sites, efforts are made to help families find nearby clinics for healthcare, ensuring children not only get vaccinated but also have their vaccinations documented for school.
- In certain shelters, vaccinations might be available onsite, while Health and Hospitals can provide more detailed information.
- The city-wide immunization registry does not collect information about immigration status, making it challenging to specify vaccination timing relative to arrival.
Francisco P. Moya
0:27:33
So in the 2024 preliminary mayor's management report, d o h m h states that in response to the influx of new arrivals, including asylum seekers, d o h m h, d o h m h, and other agencies are working to link families to medical care to ensure compliance with school immunization requirements.
0:27:52
Can you talk a little bit about which agencies you're currently working with and typically how soon after arrival are asylum seek secret children being vaccinated especially with the MMR vaccine.
Dr. Celia Quinn
0:28:06
Sure.
0:28:07
So as you are probably where there are a lot of city agencies involved in our response to this influx of new arrivals.
0:28:14
Specific to vaccine requirements, we're really close working closely with the Department of Education with the mayor's office, with health and hospitals, with DHS and other city agencies that are involved in sheltering.
0:28:26
And we're adding our expertise about health and including vaccine preventable diseases.
0:28:31
So at the sites where families with children are staying, city agencies and our partners are working to help families identify nearby clinics where they can receive care such as federal health centers or HNH sites, so that children can receive not just vaccination, but also comprehensive care that the children and families might need.
0:28:51
As well as making sure that they are getting their vaccinations documented so that they can be able to attend to school.
0:29:00
So in terms of your question about how quickly people are accessing the MMR vaccine, So if a family with children are staying at certain of the shelter sites like Herc, they might be receiving able to receive vaccinations on-site.
0:29:14
But health and hospitals will be able to speak more specifically to the details of that operation.
0:29:20
It's also important to know that our city wide immunization registry is not collect information about immigration status.
0:29:25
So it's hard to answer the question specifically about new arrivals and when in relation to their arrival they've received specific vaccines.