Paulsen Letter: Vaccines to Guantanamo Detainees “Entirely Unacceptable”
Letter to HHS and Army Secretaries expresses opposition to reported vaccinations for detainees amid shortage in Minnesota, nation as a whole

Washington, D.C.  - Congressman Erik Paulsen (MN-03) sent letters today to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, as well as Secretary of the Army John McHugh expressing his opposition to reports that detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay will soon be offered H1N1 vaccinations.   With vaccine shortages widespread in Minnesota and throughout the nation, Paulsen called the decision “entirely unacceptable”, stating that high-risk groups already established – including pregnant women and children under four, among others – should receive priority and that plans to offer vaccines to detainees should be reconsidered.

Copies of the letters are attached.  The text is below:

I write in regards to the H1N1 virus outbreak and, in particular, the vaccine shortage problem that is plaguing my home state as well as the entire nation. 

Minnesota has been heavily affected by the H1N1 virus.  The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed 12 deaths as a result of H1N1.  Moreover, there have now been 915 total novel H1N1 hospitalizations since the virus was first identified in Minnesota, with 655 of those occurring in the last two months alone.  Most recently, one clinic, Park Nicollet Health Services, was overwhelmed with callers who heard that the health care provider recently had the vaccine.  Demand quickly exceeded the clinic’s supply, forcing them to turn away many Minnesotans seeking the vaccine. 

I certainly understand the underlying problem being an overall lack of available vaccines nationwide, but I was extremely disappointed to learn that detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay will soon be offered H1N1 vaccination, while high-risk priority groups such as pregnant women and children in Minnesota and across the nation continue to wait for this vaccine.  While it is appropriate to offer the vaccine to guards and service members stationed at Guantanamo, it is entirely unacceptable to make this vaccine available to detainees while millions of law-abiding Americans are forced to wait in line.

The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention has established priority groups amid the ongoing vaccine shortage nationwide.  Those groups include pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact, children 6 months through 4 years of age, and children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions.

The aforementioned groups should maintain priority for the limited supply of H1N1 vaccines, as well as the remaining members of the American public who choose to get the vaccine, well before the detainee population at Guantanamo Bay is considered.  Regardless of what the total number of vaccines would be, detainees should not receive access to this vaccine before the at-risk populations in Minnesota or any other state. 

While the vaccine shortage has more than one root cause, unjustifiable decisions such as these are raising questions about the ability of the government to properly administrate the vaccine in a timely fashion to those who most in need.  By providing vaccines that are seriously limited throughout the country to detainees in Guantanamo Bay, those concerns would only increase. 

As more vaccines become available in the coming months, I hope the shortage will no longer be an issue and all those who choose to get the vaccine will be able to so without difficulty.  In the meantime, however, we must ensure the most at-risk populations are getting the vaccine first, so that children and pregnant women in Minnesota or other states are not forced to get in line behind detainees and accused terrorists or any other group that does meet the already established priority requirements.

I respectfully ask for your reconsideration of this decision and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Erik Paulsen
Member of Congress

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