A Tennessee advisory panel tasked it to decide in what order residents of the COVID-19 vaccine should recognize that prisoners in the state were at high risk, but decided them that prioritizing them for inoculation could be a “public relations nightmare.”
The result: Prisoners are in the latter group registered for vaccines in the state, even though the Pandemic Vaccine Planning Stakeholders group concluded that “if left untreated they will become a vector of general population distribution, ”According to records of panel closed door meetings. obtained by the Associated Press. To date, there is no robust timeline for the distribution of prison vaccines.
The Tennessee debate highlights an issue facing states across the country as they roll out life-saving vaccines: should they prioritize a population that many see as an afterthought, fa half from the public, and at worst as unworthy. The controversy comes as medical experts have argued from the outset of the pandemic that prisoners were at high risk for infection because they live in close contact with each other and do not much ability at social distance.
“It shows a lack of morality and a lack of empathy to allow someone to die or put them at greater risk as they engage in danger. … Before anyone was ever imprisoned they were originally someone’s child, mother, brother, father or sister, and they live like that and should be considered, cared for and see them that way, ”said Jeannie Alexander, executive director of the No Exceptions Prison Collective, a Nashville-based organization.
Just a few months ago, as COVID-19 cases spun across the U.S., the Associated Press and The Marshall Project reported high levels of disease among prison numbers. The analysis found that 1 in 5 state and federal prisoners in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate that was more than four times higher than the general population. Things have since declined but are still higher than the general population.
Tennessee is ranked 24th in the country for prisoner cases of COVID-19. To date, 1 in 3 residents of the state – more than 38,800 in total – have been positive for the virus since the uprising began spreading nearly a year ago. More than 40 residents have died from COVID-19.
So far, the state has included an unknown number of correctional workers – Tennessee will not publish that information as other states do – but there are no prisoners. Twenty-four states have allowed at least some of their resident population to receive the vaccine, including those who were eligible under state-led supervision or had preexisting health conditions, according to data AP and Marshall Project.
At times over the past year, some of the largest coronavirus collections in the United States have been inside Tennessee prisons, with hundreds of active cases across multiple facilities.
Over the spring, Trousdale Turner Correctional, a private prison run by Tennessee-based CoreCivic, saw about half of its 2,444 residents test positive for the coronavirus, while more than 1,100 people were convicted. residence at the 1,700 facility at South Central Correctional Facility. The state only reported 17 cases of advanced residents as of Friday. Visits have been off for months. The number of state prisons is moving around 30,000, with local prisons living around 19,000.
Documents from Pandemic Vaccine Planning stakeholder group meetings have, of course, emphasized the importance of the public seeing prisoners as “people” who should be treated as “part of the community” and “if not treated they will be like a vector of general population distribution. But the documents acknowledge that “many media inquiries” would have resulted in prisoners being vaccinated.
The panel is made up of around 40 public health organizations, lawyers, health care consortia, crisis management and other organizations. Because he is serving in a counseling position it is not required under Tennessee law to meet in public, and there are no audio recordings of the meetings, according to the Department of Health. The AP received the meeting notes through a public records request.
According to the documents, the group first met, almost, on September 22, before vaccines became available. Tennessee’s incarcerated population came up at that meeting, when the committee discussed potentially overlooked numbers.
“Understand that it would be a nightmare (public relations) but a potential burden on the state,” says one document, which has not been given to anyone by name.
Later, in December, when the group met to discuss the move-up of some age groups, in addition to teachers, prisoners were discussed again.
“If we are hit hard in prisons it will affect the whole community. The disease leaves correctional facilities and restores a general society as prisoners ride out of their sentence, “the document reads, saying when prisoners get the disease “It is the taxpayers who must pass the bill for treatment.”
Eventually, correctional staff and guards went up to one of the earliest slots, along with first responders. At the same time, prisoners remained in the last deserving group. Even now, prime prisoners who may be eligible for state-age certificates are still not getting the vaccine.
Tennessee is currently ranked 47th among states in terms of the number of people vaccinated in the total population. Of the 7 million people in the state, more than 14% have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and more than 7% have received both pictures, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
The state has been increasing eligibility for the vaccine over the past few weeks. Starting next week, the vaccine will be available to people aged 16 and over with preexisting illnesses – such as cancer, hip tension, obesity and pregnancy – as well as carers and residents of homes where vulnerable children live.
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