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New York must immediately begin offering Covid vaccines to all those incarcerated in state prisons and prisons, a judge ruled on Monday, making the state one of the few in the country to provide doses at a population as large behind bars.
The ordinance, the first for one of the largest correctional systems in the country, comes as the coronavirus continues to roar through New York facilities. At least 1,100 people living behind the prison walls have tested positive for the virus since the start of last month, and five have died.
But although prison staff and many other groups, including some who live in close contact settings like group homes and homeless shelters, have had access to vaccines in recent weeks, most of those incarcerated in New York remained ineligible to receive doses.
Justice Alison Y. Tuitt of the Bronx State Supreme Court wrote in its Monday afternoon ruling that people in jails and jails had been arbitrarily excluded from the deployment and that this was “unfair and unfair” and an “abuse of power. discretionary ”.
State officials, she said, “drew an irrational distinction between those incarcerated and those living in any other type of collective establishment for adults, in great danger to the lives of those incarcerated during this period. pandemic”.
She added: “There is no acceptable excuse for this deliberate exclusion.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office has not said it intends to appeal the decision and said in a statement Monday evening that eligibility would be extended to everyone behind bars, as the judge said. has ordered.
“Our goal from the start has been to implement a fair and equitable immunization program, and these changes will help ensure that continues to happen,” said Beth Garvey, Acting Advisor to the Governor.
Epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists have broadly agreed, even in the early stages of vaccination efforts, when supply was more limited, that the roughly 50,000 people in state correctional facilities should be eligible because of their risk. particularly high in contracting and spreading the virus. A disproportionate number of them are also blacks and Latin Americans, groups that have been hit hard by the pandemic.
But vaccinating incarcerated people has proven politically burdensome across the country, as states grappling with the same ethical, logistical and legal issues have set drastically different timelines for delivering doses. In New York City, most of those behind bars have been left behind, although other high-risk groups like restaurant workers, government employees facing the public, and workers in essential services in the building have recently become eligible.
Florida has yet to make those incarcerated in state prisons eligible, while Texas and Arkansas announced last week that they would begin providing doses to some of them. Some other states, including New Jersey, began vaccinating incarcerated people late last year, just as the first doses of the vaccine were available. And in Massachusetts, the estimated 6,400 people in prison have already been offered a vaccine.
In a similar lawsuit last month in Oregon, a federal court judge ordered the state prison system, which has a population of approximately 12,000, to offer doses to all incarcerated. It was the first successful legal battle of its kind on a national scale.
Hours after the lawsuit was filed in the Bronx State Supreme Court early last month, state corrections officials announced that incarcerated people aged 65 and over, who make up about 3% of the prison population, would be offered the vaccine.
About 1,100 inmates in New York City prisons, many of whom were at the highest risk of complications from infection, also received doses from the first weeks of January.
In recent weeks, the state’s eligibility age threshold has been lowered to include anyone aged 60 and over, and then 50 and over. People with certain chronic health conditions were also allowed to register for vaccination appointments.
State officials announced Monday that all adult residents would be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine by April 6, which could have resulted in more people behind bars being offered doses soon even though the decision had not been rendered.
Inside prisons, about three-quarters of the 1,066 incarcerated people over 65 chose to be shot, a spokeswoman for the state’s prison department said last week. More than 2,500 people with eligible conditions also received their first doses.
Yet public health experts say incarcerated people, regardless of their age or condition, should have already been eligible as they often live in crowded units and eat in overcrowded facilities where social distancing is nearly impossible.
“This is a population that should be at the top of the list,” said Dr Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, in an interview in January, during the first weeks of the week. state deployment. “I can’t honestly think of an insurmountable barrier to getting there other than stigma and discrimination.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends offering doses to everyone in prison facilities simultaneously, public advocates and civil liberties groups mentioned in their arguments. Employees of state prisons and prisons were eligible to receive the vaccine on January 11.
Efforts to put incarcerated people ahead of the general public in deployment have drawn rejection from some lawmakers in other states. The Kansas State Senate, where the majority of members are Republicans, passed a non-binding resolution requiring the governor to review a vaccination plan that prioritizes those in prison. Colorado backtracked on a plan to give prisoners early access to vaccines following opposition from Republican lawmakers and on social media.
And in New York City, Republicans in the State Senate and Assembly raised concerns about vaccinating incarcerated people before fully vaccinating essential workers.
Several advocacy groups are now planning to focus on continuing education and awareness around the vaccine. Some incarcerated people, they worry, may be reluctant to accept doses, largely because of the government’s medical experience with prison populations and people of color and the lack of information available to those behind. bars.
Yet the order has come as a welcome source of relief for family members of those in prison and those awaiting their turn to be vaccinated.
Alexander DelPriore, 26, is incarcerated in a Fulton County state prison and suffers from type 1 diabetes, which puts him at a higher risk of serious complications from the virus.
Her mother, Robin, said she was recently offered a vaccine. But prison officials told him he would have to give up his place in the queue for a work release program, Ms DelPriore said, as they claimed it could prevent him from attending. to receive her second dose.
Her son refused the vaccine in order to keep his place, she added, even though he wanted to be vaccinated.
The deployment’s lack of focus on the people behind bars left lasting frustrations, Ms. DelPriore said.
“Why do we choose and choose who deserves? Who can be judge and jury on this – saying, “You deserve it, but you don’t?” Asked Ms DelPriore. “How is that true?”
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