I’d like to share this important letter from the American Translators & Interpreters Association (ATA) to the Centers for Disease Control to include on-site medical interpreters among the listed examples of health-care personnel eligible for Phase 1 COVID vaccines. Twenty other organizations countersigned the ATA letter.
Medical interpreters in local hospitals and county clinics, and in the workers’ compensation field are at risk whenever we attend assignments on-site. Administrative hearing and court certified interpreters are as well, whenever step into court of law, an attorney’s office or a court reporter’s office for a deposition, settlement documents, etc. We also work in settings such as labor standards hearings, schools, EDD, DMV, and the private sector, among others. Anywhere communication takes place between speakers of differing languages, we are there.
I hope Santa Barbara County chooses to support the protection of the interpreters who provide this vital function to our communities.