WATCH: Fox News Complains About Vaccine Mandate for Migrants — After Months of Asking Why No Vaccine Mandate for Migrants

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich complained to White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield about a new vaccine requirement for migrants, after her network spent months asking why no such requirement was being instituted.

At a White House press briefing Tuesday, Heinrich pressed Bedingfield about a new vaccine requirement for migrants at the southern border, suggesting that giving “free vaccines to undocumented migrants” could leave the U.S. unable to vaccinate “uninsured Americans.”

HEINRICH: Thank you, Kate. There are reports that the administration is going to require COVID vaccines for undocumented migrants at the southwest border just as Title 42 is expected to end and right after the fourth shot got FDA approval.

You just highlighted the impacts of not having enough COVID funding when it comes to paying for shots for the uninsured and sending shipments of treatments to states. So why would the administration give out free vaccines to undocumented migrants but not to, for instance, uninsured Americans?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, to be clear, we have the supply that we need in this moment to vaccinate Americans here in this country. I don’t want to conflate those two things because I think that’s not a — that’s not an accurate representation of what I said.

We have — we have the supply that we need to vaccinate Americans. What we are asking for is funding to prepare for future eventualities and to ensure that we have what we need as we move forward.

Now, on your question about the border, this is nothing new. The effort to vaccinate migrants in our care and custody has been ongoing for months. ICE has been providing vaccines to migrants since the summer of 2021. And we’re always assessing the situation and addressing protocols based on changing CDC guidance.

You know, but in order to ensure the safety of border communities and the workforce and the migrants themselves, DHS is now requiring age-appropriate vaccinations for non-citizens who are taken into Border Patrol custody.

But again, this is consistent with overall CDC guidance for those entering the country, be it by air or land. And we know that vaccinating people is the best way to protect from the virus and to protect against the spread of the virus.

HEINRICH: Can you clarify, though: The New York Times story framed it as something that was about to get underway in certain sectors of the southwest border. Is this some- — this requirement for a vaccine. Is — is that accurate? Is that something that is going to take place? Because — and the reason I ask is you’re talking about future supply and this is a future effort. How are those two things not sort of in conflict?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, as I said, it’s — it is actually nothing new. I mean, we have been vaccinating migrants in our care and custody for many, many months. So ICE, as I said, has been providing vaccines to migrants since the summer of 2021. So this is not anything new. As we know, that this is — again, the best way to protect people from the virus and to prevent the spread of the virus is to ensure that they’re vaccinated.

Going back nearly a year, Fox News reporters like Peter Doocy and other personalities on the network have complained about the fact that there was no requirement for migrants to be vaccinated at the border, even as President Joe Biden ordered vaccine requirements for American workers.

But they also raised alarm bells last year when they thought the U.S. government might be providing vaccines to migrants, which White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied at the time.

Watch above via The White House and Fox News.