Transgender woman denied COVID-19 vaccine at health department

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    GUTHRIE, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A transgender woman said she was turned away from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at the Logan County Health Department.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health wouldn’t comment on camera about the incident but said in a statement the woman couldn’t get the vaccine due to a “mismatched” ID.

Freedom Oklahoma brought the incident to light in a tweet to the state Health Department on Wednesday.

The tweet asked why the Logan County department turned away a transgender woman who wanted to get the vaccine.

Tweeting in response, the state health department said it was aware of the situation and was working with the Logan County department and Freedom Oklahoma to rectify things.

The woman declined to go on camera. She said her parents took her to the Logan County department to get their shots. She decided to get hers as well.

She was told to fill out the paperwork but was denied when her name and ID didn’t match.

The woman said she told the department she was waiting on the paperwork but was still denied entry.

The state Health Department’s statement said, in part: “The equity of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution has always been paramount in the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s effort to vaccinate Oklahoma. Unfortunately, a situation with a resident being denied a vaccine, due to a mismatched ID, at one of our county health departments was handled poorly.”

The state health department said it is acting quickly to understand the details and address the situation appropriately.

The department said it thinks what happened is an isolated incident.

The woman said she was able to come to the Oklahoma City-County Health Department to get her first shot.

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