The drug store chain CVS is changing its COVID vaccination registration form to be friendlier to the transgender community.
The chain previously asked people to mark their “birth sex” before they were allowed to schedule a vaccination. The question has been removed.
Related: LGBTQ people of color are more likely to contract COVID than straight white people
“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,” a CVS spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
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The company noted that it is required to gather some demographic information by the federal government – including the gender of the person being vaccinated.
“We use demographic information to understand whether some people are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, which is crucial information for new diseases,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement. “We have not received reports of concerns about the way this info is being collected by providers.”
The CDC recommends that providers ask vaccine seekers their “gender identity” before asking for the sex “originally listed on your birth certificate.”
“Asking two questions offers a clearer, more clinically relevant representation of transgender patients,” the department states in an online guide for health officials that offers guidance on recording data from the LGBTQ community.
Advocates, however, said the question effectively outs transgender people.
This kind of stuff keeps me hopeful. CVS asked for sex at birth on vaccine registration. Trans people pushed back, medical professionals confirmed that it wasn’t necessary or helpful, CVS listened, the question is gone. A small but meaningful victory. https://t.co/fgbhQEhWmY
— Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) April 13, 2021
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