A U.S. Border Patrol union boss said a Department of Homeland Security effort to vaccinate agents is “smoke and mirrors” and likely won’t end up covering much of the force.
“Operation Vaccinate Our Workforce is smoke and mirrors,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said. “It is done through the VA and only at a select few VA Hospitals. Periodic emails are sent to BP Agents and you get placed on a long waiting list.”
“The process is inefficient at best and very few employees are able to get vaccinated,” he told Breitbart.
DHS commenced its immunization program, Operation Vaccinate Our Workforce, or VOW, in late January, and the government body claimed 64,000 of its employees have received shots since its inception.
“There is no higher priority than the health and safety of our workforce. On January 25, DHS established Operation Vaccinate Our Workforce (Operation VOW) to accelerate the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to our personnel,” a spokesperson said. “Currently over 64,000 frontline DHS employees, including members of the U.S. Border Patrol, have received a vaccination.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday appeared to echo Judd’s concerns when he faulted the Biden administration for the lack of vaccine availability to law enforcement personnel on the border.
PSAKI: ABBOT ‘DECLINED’ MONEY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT COVID TESTS, HOPES HE’LL ‘RECONSIDER’
“The Biden administration is not providing vaccinations for Border Patrol,” he said during a news conference after visiting a facility. “We have Border Patrol officers whose lives are on the line, and the Biden administration will not step up and provide the vaccinations they need.”
Concern for Border Patrol agents ballooned when it was revealed that upwards of 100 coronavirus-positive migrants were released in Brownsville, Texas, a situation which drew sharp rhetoric from Abbott that “the Biden administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID into” his communities. White House press secretary Jen Psaki hit back and said the governor “declined” money provided by the federal government to pay for coronavirus testing for the migrants.
“The governor has complained about testing at the border,” Psaki said in a Sunday interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart. “He’s shared details that are not fact-based, but to be crystal clear here, FEMA, DHS has worked with local authorities, has worked with local NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] to come up with a plan that would cover 100% of testing costs for migrants who cross the border.”
“He has declined that funding,” she continued. “That is something that doesn’t help the people of Texas, and we’re certainly hopeful that he’ll reconsider.”
The DHS vaccination effort came under fire in early February after it was accused of it being too slow and alleged to be prioritizing inmates in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, over workers.
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“A scenario where individuals in DHS custody are prioritized for vaccination over our frontline federal law enforcement tasked with securing our border and enforcing immigration laws, as well as other frontline DHS personnel and American citizens, would likely prove equally shocking and inequitable to the American people,” New York Republican Rep. John Katko wrote in a Feb. 3 letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
He continued: “Now, as our nation faces a new surge of migrants heading to the Southwest Border on the heels of a flurry of policy rollbacks including of the Migrant Protection Protocols and President Biden’s Presidential Proclamation 10142 to stop wall system construction projects funded by direct Congressional appropriations, we are concerned that DHS is taking too long to vaccinate frontline personnel who are critical to our national security.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
