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Why Are Children Dying of the Flu in U.S. Detention?
Despite a readily available vaccine, it’s not being given to migrant children.
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, Americans have another disease to worry about — the flu. Fortunately, there’s already a cheap, effective and readily available influenza vaccine. So why aren’t migrant children in U.S. detention facilities getting it when we know the flu can be deadly? Under the Trump administration, at least three children who were detained have died of the flu.
In the video above, Dr. Mario Mendoza, who survived a harrowing journey migrating to the United States himself when he was just 7 years old, vows to change this. He’s determined to provide migrant children with access to a flu vaccine — even if he has to travel across the Mexican border to do so. No child should die of something so preventable because they’re in U.S. custody.
Mario Mendoza (@Lifeundocumentd) is the founder of advocacy organization Life Undocumented.
Beth Murphy (@BethMurphyFilm) is a cinematic journalist, executive producer at the GroundTruth Project and founder of Principle Pictures.
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