UPDATED: Some Lawmakers Upset Prison Inmates Get COVID-19 Vaccination Priority
An inmate grasps the bars on his two-person cell at Menard Correctional Center during a media tour of the prison in Chester, Ill., on Wednesday, May 20, 2014. Photo credit: David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
There wasn’t much of a debate who should get the COVID-19 vaccines first: healthcare workers. Who should get the vaccine after them is where any consensus begins to fall apart.
Health care workers and those living in long-term care facilities are the first in line to receive a vaccination as part of the so-called “Phase 1A.” The Illinois Department of Public Health plan puts three groups next in line to get the vaccine beginning this coming Monday in the state’s Phase 1B: people over the age of 65, frontline essential workers and prison inmates.
The prioritization of inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections is ruffling feathers among some state lawmakers.
“You have a group of people from ages 20 to 60 who have immune-compromised systems or comorbidities who will not get the vaccine until after individuals who are healthy but incarcerated,” said Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro). “I think that’s wrong.”
People 16 to 64 years old with “high-risk medical conditions” are in the following phase, 1C.
The Illinois Department of Corrections reports 83 inmates and one correctional staff member have died from COVID-19. More than 10,000 inmates and nearly 4000 prison staffers have tested positive. Around 29,000 people were in Department of Corrections custody as of January 1. Confined spaces of a prison don’t always make social distancing an option.
Illinois Department of Public Health spokesperson Melaney Arnold said the death rate from COVID-19 was higher among inmates than the state at large and that the state was following the guidelines recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Despite taking precautions, prisons across the nation and in Illinois have had major outbreaks with hundreds of staff going in and out of facilities every day,” Arnold said in an emailed statement. “As a result, the risk of infection for incarcerated individuals and staff working in the facilities has been very high.”
One of the worst outbreaks in the country was at the Cook County Jail. It is not operated by the state, but outbreaks in detention facilities have been common.
Sen. Bryant was a public administrator with the Illinois Department of Corrections before going to Springfield. She said she’s not opposed to inmates being vaccinated, but called it a matter of priorities.
“We have people who are living out [in the community], free individuals, who cannot visit with their family members or their friends or go out to shop or anything until they get the vaccine,” Bryant said. “They’re in [Phase] 1C so they’re going to get it, by plan, after inmates get it.”
UPDATE (7:13 P.M.):
update adds quotes from Rep. Will Guzzardi throughout the story.
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Some Democrats pushed back on the idea that inmates should move back in line simply because they’re in prison.
“It’s not that any one population is more or less worthy or deserving of the other,” said Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago). “I think that’s a really dangerous game to start playing. The Republican’s notion people who are incarcerated are less deserving of vaccination than other people, that seems like a very dangerous route to pursue in policymaking.”
Bryant said people living in some assisted living facilities were still waiting for their vaccines, which made her question if some inmates may be vaccinated before people who were in the first phase of the rollout.
“There have been massive outbreaks in assisted living facilities, as there has been in prisons,” Bryant said. “If they’re healthy, they’re healthy whether they’re locked up or free. If they’re sick, they’re sick and those are the people we should be giving it to right now, free or incarcerated.”
Arnold said “the goal is to get as many high risk individuals vaccinated as quickly as possible” and the State was following the advice of medical experts.
Bryant said she had contacted Gov. Pritzker’s office about her concerns but she’s not holding her breath waiting for the governor to call. She said the two haven’t spoken since the band Confederate Railroad had its performance at the Du Quoin Fair cancelled by the Pritzker Administration in 2019.
The problem at this point, according to Guzzardi, is there simply aren’t enough vaccines available yet for everyone who needs or deserves one. He said lawmakers should just follow the advice of public health experts.
“I would love to see the vaccine get to everyone as quickly as possible obviously but if we’re going to go through this exercise of prioritizing a population, I think we should follow the science, follow the experts and follow the guidance to get those people in congregate settings the vaccine as quickly as possible.”
UPDATE (1/22 2:20 P.M.):
Governor JB Pritzker was asked about the move in his news conference Friday. He says state officials were following federal guidance.
“Well, they weren’t moved ahead. Let me explain to you that the ASIP committee at CDC recommended we vaccinate prisoners at the same time we vaccinate corrections officers. This is, in fact, not just an ASIP recommendation, but the Bureau of Prisions for the federal government is vaccinating prisoners. That was under the Trump administration. The same is happening under the Biden administration. That’s where we landed.”
With more vaccines being approved and produced, the pace of getting everyone inoculated will likely speed up, but not soon enough for anyone who is still waiting to get their old life back.