Tom Lee/Stuff
An unvaccinated US woman has failed to convince a tribunal that she should be granted refugee status in New Zealand due to her fears of catching Covid-19 in the USA.
An unvaccinated American woman who applied for refugee status in New Zealand due to her fear of catching Covid-19 in the United States has had her application denied.
The woman, aged in her 50s, moved to New Zealand in 2012, according to a recently released Immigration and Protection Tribunal decision.
In her application for refugee status, she said she would be at risk of contracting Covid-19 if she returned to the USA.
While the woman believes in public health measures such as mask wearing, she was not vaccinated against Covid-19 because she was worried about having an adverse reaction, as she had with a flu vaccination around 12 years ago.
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“She does not believe that the Covid-19 pandemic is over in the USA, and that the coming winter will see an escalation in cases.”
If she were to become ill, she claimed the US government wouldn’t provide her with adequate hospital care.
“The American government has a history of not providing medical treatment to the poor and disenfranchised. She fears becoming ‘another death statistic’.”
Additionally, she said she had not felt safe living in the United States since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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“She feared retaliatory attacks as she regards the USA as a ‘warmongering country’. The country is racially divided and awash with guns. There is inadequate gun control. She does not feel safe there,” the tribunal heard.
The woman believed she was at risk of being killed or seriously harmed in her homeland “because the country is divided, awash with guns and on the brink of civil war”.
Lastly, the woman married a “Kiwi boy” in 2018.
He would not be able to join her in the USA as his family was in New Zealand.
The tribunal accepted there was a real chance the woman would catch Covid, however it was her choice not to be vaccinated.
If she did become unwell with Covid, her predicament did not amount to persecution as per the criteria for refugee status.
“There is no human right to be healthy.”
Additionally, while the American public health system was under pressure, it was still functioning.
Unsplash
If she were to become ill, the woman claimed the US government wouldn’t provide her with adequate hospital care (file photo).
“There is no evidence to support the appellant’s contention that available antiviral treatment would be withheld from her on discriminatory grounds.
“Although there are issues around the uninsured facing some medical bills for treatment, there is no suggestion that the poor and disenfranchised … are being denied access to treatment.”
The tribunal dismissed her application as she was “not in danger of being arbitrarily deprived of life or subjected to cruel treatment” in the United States.
