To the Editor:

On Dec. 3, Arlene Shako set forth her thoughts as to how distribution of the COVID-19 vaccination should be prioritized, starting with “health-care workers and all frontline workers, teachers and all school personnel ... then those of us who are older and have immunity issues ….” [“Vaccinate undocumented immigrants last,” Altamont Enterprise letters, Dec 3, 2020]

Because of the Trump administration’s dereliction of duty with regard to the pandemic, recipients of the vaccination will probably have to be prioritized, and strong arguments could be made in support of Ms. Shako’s initial suggestions.

Ms. Shako goes on to say, “We have worked and paid taxes our entire lives. We need to be protected first and also the rural and farm communities which provide food to all New Yorkers. Then take care of inner-city minority people and all New Yorkers.” She does not make clear which lucky groups belong to the “We” who “have worked and paid taxes our entire lives,” but it does not appear to include “inner-city minority people.”

Regardless of how the vaccination might be distributed, I would encourage readers to consider the possibility that persons of color who live in inner-city areas might indeed work hard and pay taxes. Those who “have worked and paid taxes” and “inner-city minority people” are not mutually exclusive subsets.

In fact, it is even possible that those individuals are health-care workers, frontline workers, teachers, and school personnel. To imply that persons of color are not among those who “have worked and paid taxes our entire lives” is nothing more than playing to ugly stereotypes.

Incidentally, city residents are at higher risk than rural residents because they live in neighborhoods of higher population density. City residents probably use public transportation more than suburban and rural residents, another factor that could increase their exposure to the virus. These are factors which would support the argument that city dwellers should be prioritized ahead of healthy rural residents because of these risks.

Ms. Shako concludes that “illegal immigrants” should be the last to receive the vaccination because, “Otherwise you will have a society that rewards all those who break the rules and discourages people from being legal, hard-working citizens.”

Again, regardless of the question of how the vaccination will be distributed, this plays to stereotypes that should have been dispelled long ago. Undocumented immigrants work, pay taxes, and contribute to Social Security and Medicare.

According to Steve Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School and co-author of a leading 21-volume immigration law series:

“Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, paid an estimated $328 billion in state, federal, and local taxes in 2014 alone. And the estimated 4.5 million people with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), which are available only to noncitizens, paid $23.6 billion in total taxes in 2015.”

Undocumented workers also of course pay sales tax. There is ample evidence that undocumented workers make significant contributions to our economy and work (hard).

To suggest that they will be discouraged from “being legal, hard-working citizens” is a baseless stereotype that simply is not supported. Again, those who work and pay taxes and undocumented workers are not mutually exclusive groups; indeed, undocumented workers are among those who work and pay billions of dollars in taxes.

Jill Loew

Guilderland