Booster.

Not the band boosters or football boosters but the COVID-19 booster shots, there are many reasons why people do not get vaccinated. Unfortunately one of them is the fear of being “outed” by the forms you have to fill, one pharmacy asked for “gender assigned at birth” and the question is why? Why do they ask that question when no other pharmacy asks them, nor does the CDC, I haven’t been able to find that requirement on the CDC website.

U.S. pharmacy chain changes gender question on vaccine forms after trans ire
Reuters
By Sydney Bauer
April 12, 2021


ATLANTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A U.S. pharmacy chain has changed its online registration forms for COVID-19 vaccinations after transgender people complained about being asked to declare their birth sex, highlighting a heated nationwide debate about trans rights.

CVS Health Corp, which has administered millions of vaccines in the United States, said it was scrapping a “sex assigned at birth” question and would only ask people to state their gender following feedback from the LGBT+ community.

The company’s decision comes amid a U.S. culture war over trans rights as advocates and conservatives battle over access to medical treatment for minors and inclusion in schools’ sports for trans girls.

A CVS spokesman said the new form includes a note explaining that demographic information - including gender - is required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. public health body, as part of the vaccine registration process.

ATLANTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A U.S. pharmacy chain has changed its online registration forms for COVID-19 vaccinations after transgender people complained about being asked to declare their birth sex, highlighting a heated nationwide debate about trans rights.

CVS Health Corp, which has administered millions of vaccines in the United States, said it was scrapping a “sex assigned at birth” question and would only ask people to state their gender following feedback from the LGBT+ community.

The company’s decision comes amid a U.S. culture war over trans rights as advocates and conservatives battle over access to medical treatment for minors and inclusion in schools’ sports for trans girls.

A CVS spokesman said the new form includes a note explaining that demographic information - including gender - is required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. public health body, as part of the vaccine registration process.

“We are committed to providing equal access to vaccines. An individual’s sex, gender, race or ethnicity are in no way limiting factors in scheduling a vaccine appointment,” the spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.

But other vaccinations site do not ask that question. I looked at Walgreen’s website and they don’t ask about gender assigned at birth when you request an appointment. Back in January when I made my appointment on VAMS (Vaccine Administration Management System) which is run by the CDC.

The Discover magazine had this article;

Why It's Harder for Many Transgender People to Access (and Trust) COVID-19 Vaccines
The medical field has historically neglected and abused trans people, while also overlooking them in clinical trials. Despite community skepticism, LGBTQ people overall are more Likely to view COVID-19 vaccines as a social duty.
By Madeleine Gregory
May 18, 2021


In the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has uniquely threatened the LGBTQ community, especially transgender people, due to existing disparities in income, housing and health care. But with historically rooted hesitancy toward the vaccine, some experts and community members worry that transgender people won’t receive vaccinations as quickly — or access them as easily — as their cisgender peers.

Vaccine hesitancy certainly exists among transgender people, especially among trans people of color, who tend to have more mistrust of the medical system. Although more than half of transgender adults said they'd get vaccinated as of January 2021, a higher rate than the general adult population, the percentages varied by race and decreased among non-white respondents. LGBT people of color and trans people overall were also most concerned about factors like affordability, effectiveness and side effects.
[…]
“To date there is no evidence that hormone therapy has any effect, but we are not aware of any investigator who has specifically looked at this question," Stephenson says. “All the vaccine trials do record what medications participants are taking, so in theory such an analysis could be performed."

So that leads us to the Connecticut LGBTQ+ Health Needs Assessment found this about our healthcare…

• 16% of respondents reported being refused healthcare services because of their LGBTQ+ identity.
• About two-thirds (64%) of respondents mentioned having concerns related to accessing healthcare services.
• The top concerns related to accessing healthcare services included concerns that the services would not be LGBTQ+ friendly (20%), concerns that providers and staff would not be trained for their needs as a member of the LGBTQ+ community (19%), and not knowing where to access these services (19%).

And trans people said,

Transgender and Nonbinary Needs. Respondents shared that the U.S. healthcare system does not meet the needs of transgender and nonbinary communities. They mentioned experiences such as being misgendered or “deadnamed,” discrimination, malpractice or mistreatment, abuse, or not being able to afford gender-related surgeries because of insurance policies.

Now on top of all that comes CVS requiring our gender assigned at birth, why? How many trans people are now avoiding getting vaccines because they fear of being “outed” and they don’t see the reason for the question when nobody else asks that question?

Okay when I came to the part on the CVS appointment form I answered “female” because that is what is on my birth certificate.

So I walk into the CVS store and go to the pharmacy vaccine window. I tell the clerk my name and DOB she types in some data and then directs me to the vaccine booth.

After a minute or two the pharmacist walks in asks me a couple more questions, tell me to roll up my left sleeve, I tell her I’m left handed, she enter some data into her tablet and to roll up my right sleeve, and she jabs me. She then tells me to wait for 15 minutes, she stops by to see if I am still alive and licking, and tells me that I can leave.

The wrath of CVS didn’t come crashing down on me for answering “female” on their form.